Imagine if National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, who had served under President Clinton, had made the rounds of all the TV talk shows, prior to waging an optional war (since there was no danger of attacks when UN Inspectors were in Iraq), and frightened us witless with images of "mushroom clouds", nuclear attacks, and, biological & chemical attacks about to be launched by a horrible monster within 45 minutes. Imagine further, if in the aftermath of such terrifying warnings, the war was launched resulting in the deaths of 293 US & British Military men and women (over 260 American), and an estimated 6600-7800 Iraqi civilian deaths.
Imagine even further, that all the hyped-up "intelligence" warning us of "imminent attacks" with all these "weapons of mass destruction" that were deployable and ready to strike, turned out to be fabrications, falsehoods and lies. Finally, extend your imagination, to fast-forward to the present time, when these same people were telling you that now they hope to find evidence not of those very WMDs able to destroy you & your loved ones "imminently"-- but perhaps they will find evidence of "programmes" to develop such WMDs.
Indeed, if Al Gore (instead of Dick Cheney) and Sandy Berger (instead of Condi Rice) and William Cohen (instead of Don Rumsfeld) had perpetrated such a fraud upon the American People and the World-- they would have been "fried alive" already. Berger would have been asked to resign. Instead, all the neo-cons could "cook-up" on Clinton was a sexual liaison, (that didn't result in thousands of deaths of human beings), because he didn't like their "Pre-emptive Doctrine". Anyone with a "brain" would ridicule Rummy & Wolfy's "Pre-emptive Doctrine" as looney-- just as insane as the crack-pot Poindexter's ghoulish Gambling Casino on Death scheme, which Congress rightly cancelled.
In fact, now that Poindexter has "resigned", he should probably seek counseling at the nearest psychiatric unit (he's lucky: he's got health insurance unlike over 45 Million Americans). The Bush Gang, especially: Bush himself, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz who see war as a "game" should join him there.
Condi Rice's reputation amongst knowledgable professionals who value the truth is discredited. Who could possibly believe her now, except for the neo-con fascists who believe that the "ends justify the means"? She has lied to the American people, and, if she did not read the memorandum sent to her by the CIA, warning her of falsehoods and mis-statements that she approved in the President's State of the Union speech, then she is also incompetent. Her career in government is "wrecked", because she misplaced her loyalty in corrupt Emperors Bush and Cheney, instead of comprehending that her duty and loyalty is supposed to be to the United States of America. Her priorities are screwed-up and she is unfit to hold a public office.
Condi Rice has "egg on her face", and has "fried" her own reputation and credibility. Bush's insistence that she remains in office, shouts loudly to his own lack of integrity and his utter contempt for the American People and the Rule of Law. Bush's refusal to dismiss those who "mis-led" him (if indeed he was mis-led-- perhaps he lied as he & Cheney seemed to have lusted for the war in Iraq prior to 9/11), also demonstrates a callousness and brutish disregard for those US Military men & women who gave their lives on the basis of trusting that they were protecting the U.S.A. against danger. Our brave men and women were not killed, maimed and injured in defense of this country, and if Bush & Cheney had any honour, they would insist upon their appointees who mis-led the country stepping down.
Condi Rice stated yesterday on PBS's Newshour with Jim Lehrer: "The president of the United States has every right to believe that what he is saying in his speeches is of the highest confidence of his staff. A rigorous clearance process exists to ensure that, she said, but in this one case, the process did not work." Dear oh dear, but Rice is responsible for vetting National Security information and ensuring that the process does indeed work.
Our system of government will continue to deteriorate, and is changing for the worse, before our very eyes, on the basis, that for whatever reason, powerful individuals are above scrutiny and above the rule of law.
"We the People" must demand a full inquiry into the inter-workings of the National Security Advisor's Agency now. Moreover, it is particularly vital to investigate Condi Rice, since we've been warned that (a) more terrorist attacks are forthcoming, (b) al Qaeda has re-established new training programmes and there are thousands of their operatives in the USA, and, (c) the Bush administration has cut funding to protect us here at home, because they are bankrupting us in an insane war in Iraq, which they have badly bungled.
The American People cannot have confidence that Condi Rice is able to administer the National Security Agency properly.
The Bush Gang announced prior to launching their illegal & immoral incursion into Iraq that the U.S. Taxpayer would incur a cost of approximately $1 Billion/Month-- During the so-called "war", we were told the costs escalated to a "back-breaking" $2 Billion/Month-- Now that we are involved in a "post-war" (sic) guerilla quagmire, our costs are running at an insane $4 Billion/Month:-- Anyone else, other than Bush's Corrupt Cabal would have been fired on the spot!
In the Corporate World (that the neo-CEO Bush & neo-COO Cheney bizarrely bragged they were modelling their administration after), this would be grounds for dismissal and potential charges of malfeasance (except for the Enron model in which Bush's buddy Kenny-boy Lay "takes the money & runs"). Hmmmm ... one now can surmise that the USA is in economic turmoil, perhaps due to the Bush/Cheney/Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay philosophy of "management".
Can we afford to allow our country to be put at risk, on the basis of the corruption and incompetence shown to-date by Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz? Ask the families of the victims of 9/11 and the Americans who died in Iraq to-date.
Bush's Implausible Deniability of Real Responsibility
One could be forgiven for wondering if Bush comprehends the meaning of the words he utters. He seems oblivious to the very irony, inconsistency, and, deceptions of his own rhetoric. The White House Words don't "square-up" with their Actions taken.
While the U.S.A. is known to be an "irony-free" zone, there was a time, even in recent history (e.g. Watergate & Lewinsky-gate), when our Leader's honesty was deemed important. Furthermore, our "freedom" rests on the very sacred notion (that they even managed to figure out as early as 1215 & codified in the Magna Carta): No Man is Above the Law, even a King, and under our own system: even a President, Vice-President, National Security Advisor, Secretary of Defense, and Assistant Secretary of Defense, for example. Do we as a people no longer care about the rule of law? If we do, where is the outrage?
Today, the neo-con "attack-dogs" are in damage-control mode, desperately gambling on American's credulity to believe that Bush & Cheney didn't know about Poindexter's unsavoury Gambling Casino on Death, his U.S. Lottery Jackpot of Death. Bush & Cheney seem to know very, very little (if one is gullable enough to believe Karl Rove's hype), about what is happening under their noses. Admittedly, the smell isn't very pleasant-- but Bush & Cheney wanted the job ... and appointed these people who have lied to us, and dreamt-up their sick, corrupt programmes.
Bush's implausible deniability of real responsibility for taking any action against those who are clearly incompetent, liars, dangerous, or downright crack-pots, like Poindexter, demonstrates that indeed, he refuses to be held accountable and considers himself above the rule of law. Bush & Cheney actions show their lack of conscience and refusal to accept any Real Responsibility for the appallingly wrong-headed direction they are taking this country.
Yesterday, Bush glibly brushed off reporter's questions with "I take personal responsibility for everything I say, of course, absolutely. I also take responsibility for making decisions on war and peace."-- but, in truth of fact: he doesn't. It's not good enough to spout words that have no meaning ... that have no consequences. A responsible leader takes the requisite actions consistent with his/her pronouncements. Bush has not done so to-date, and is stubbornly refusing to do so now, in the face of blatantly wanton incompetence and corruption displayed by his appointees.
Joseph E. Stiglitz, an economics professor at Columbia University, was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Clinton. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001. Dr. Stigliz, commented today in the Los Angeles Times, in an article entitled "Terrorism: There's No Futures in It" on : http://www.latimes.com/news/o...,1,4162448.story?coll=la-news-commen t-opinions : "Administration has taken market fundamentalism to an absurd low."
"In its own peculiar way, the administration has once again recognized the limitations of markets — as it did with the airline bailouts, steel tariffs and agriculture subsidies. But once again, the lack of intellectual foundation or a firm grasp of economic principles — or the pursuit of other agendas — has led to a proposal that almost seems a mockery of itself."
The Bush administration's economic agenda has not only led to proposals that almost seem a mockery of themselves, but their insane foreign policy of "Pre-emptive Doctrine" (propaganda phrase meaning: hitlerian aggression, incursion, invasion) makes a mockery of civilized laws and international co-operation. Their lack of respect for the rule of law, makes a mockery of their rhetorical pronouncements about safeguarding this country and their claims on patriotism. What is they say about the last refuge of scoundrels?
"We the People" must recognize that it is our responsibility to take action. We've been deceived with respect to What the President Knew and When He Knew it regarding 9/11 and Iraq. Moreover, bizarre nightmare schemes are being brewed-up by the ghouls in the "bowels" of the Pentagon, that are an anathema to our democratic system of government.
Let's take our own responsibility as citizens seriously, and write to our Congressmen and women, demanding that action to be taken ... Unlike the Bush/Cheney Gang, let's not evade our obligation to this country, founded upon the Rule of Law, for which it stands, by taking positive and responsible action today.
Refer to another excellent editorial published today in the Los Angeles Times:
"Pointy Heads, Deadly Game"
"Investors can be so frighteningly on the money in predicting things like elections that, in theory, setting up a commodity-style market in which participants helped generals anticipate terrorist attacks, coups and turmoil might have harnessed the force of greed for the U.S. good. But a Bush administration plan to do so, one that officials pledged Tuesday to "terminate," was unbelievably stupid.
Its unsavory doings could have included putting the government in the business of taking bets on whether the king of Jordan would be assassinated. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) characterized it as "a futures market in death."
The plan was conceived largely by social scientists at Caltech under the supervision of John M. Poindexter, the national security advisor to the elder President Bush and the Reagan administration advisor who engineered the 1980s guns-for-hostages trade known as Iran-Contra. Last year, he developed another hare-brained program, dubbed Total Information Awareness. Aimed at countering terrorism by tapping computer databases for personal information on U.S. citizens, the program's funding was whacked after lawmakers denounced it for trampling civil liberties.
Poindexter's dicey record is a big reason why legislators should not take the word of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz about the demise of this insane market. Displaying Total Information Unawareness on Tuesday, Wolfowitz claimed he learned about the ploy only that day, from the media. "I share your shock at this kind of program," he assured senators. "We'll find out about it, but it is being terminated."
One question: Is the administration halting just this scheme or also its lesser-known predecessors? Last Dec. 19, the Pentagon published a notice calling on social scientists to develop market-like mechanisms to predict national security threats — this as a continuation of its ongoing Electronic Market-Based Decision Support program.
By itself, this research is morally neutral. It relies on the work of Thomas Bayes, the 18th century English mathematician who believed that social scientists could never predict the future if all they did was debate chalkboard equations in academe; they also must find ways to factor in "street" voices, like those of the marketplace.
Poindexter's latest project, however, horribly overreached. It would not only have predicted markets but also would have influenced them in repugnant ways, letting terrorists profit from their mayhem.
This project showed above all that, in their obsession with listening to vox populi, social scientists and the policy wonks who funded them grew deaf to ethics and moral responsibility. Soul-searching is in order in the ivy-covered towers. And it's past time for Poindexter to go."
"Shock and Awe" isn't a strategy used by the Bush Gang on foreign enemies (Iraqis were not "shocked", nor were they "awed"-- they were massacred, sorrowed and angered). But instead, it's the bizarre Plan-of-Attack that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz have launched to terrorize the citizens of the U.S.A.
The story of a lottery, a betting game, a pool for those who want to gamble on terrorist attacks, assassinations, and deaths related to the Middle-East-- was in reality a Defense Department scheme, under the Pentagon's ghoulish goon: Poindexter. This guy makes Dr. Strangelove look like Mother Teresa, by comparison.
This isn't the first "Big Brother" fascist scheme launched by Poindexter: remember, he is the "brains" behind the Total Information Awareness programme to spy on every aspect of your life, lest you "say the wrong thing" according to Bush, and need to be categorized as an "enemy combattant" or "terrorist". There is a real danger of "Enemies Lists" compiled by the Government comprising those who don't support Bush/Cheney policies.
The fact that Bush didn't immediately demand Poindexter's resignation for his blood-thirsty U.S. Lottery Jackpot of Death, is another indication that Bush is either stupid, corrupt, or most probably (if one was to wager a bet): both. It's a sign that the Bush Gang, are not only war-mongers, but are also, so "out-of-touch" with reality, that they are obscenely dangerous.
Those neo-con court jesters who claim that Bush & Cheney didn't know about this blood-thirsty, bizarre betting scheme, condemned by Republican and Democratic Congressmen/women alike, must account for the incompetence and/or problems associated with an administration that purports (come on, folks) to claim not to know anything about the falsehoods, lies, deceit, and, corrupt programmes carried out in the "bowels" of their own organisation.
"We the People" should demand an open-door investigation into the crimes committed by the Bush administration before they run us "off a cliff", and we leave a legacy to future generations to apologize for, and having to endlessly explain our government's hitlerian agenda & Crimes against Humanity, while we watched with "eyes-wide-open", and collaborated.
That Wolfowitz glibly mumbled to Congress: "It sounds like maybe they got too imaginative in this area." also demonstrates that he should be asked to resign, along with Rumsfeld and Poindexter.
Ari Fleischer warned us to "watch what you say" ... it's clear that unless he's stopped, Poindexter will execute untold punishments upon those who ignore Bush's threat.
An excellent editorial published today in the New York Times, is as follows:
"Poindexter's Follies"
"The time has obviously come to send John Poindexter packing and to shut down the wacky espionage operation he runs at the Pentagon. The latest idea hatched by Mr. Poindexter's shop — an online futures trading market where speculators could bet on the probabilities of terrorist attacks, assassinations and coups — was canceled yesterday by embarrassed Pentagon officials. The next logical step is to fire Mr. Poindexter.
In testimony before Congress yesterday, Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, disowned the futures project. The insensitivity of the idea boggles the mind. Quite apart from the tone-deafness of equating terrorist attacks with, say, corn futures, the plan would allow speculators — even terrorists — to profit from anonymous bets on future attacks. The project's theoretical underpinnings are equally absurd. Markets do not always operate perfectly in the larger world of stocks and bonds. The idea that they can reliably forecast the behavior of isolated terrorists is ridiculous.
The "Policy Analysis Market" would actually have opened for business on Oct. 1 had Senators Ron Wyden and Byron Dorgan not blown the whistle. Despite Mr. Wolfowitz's pledge to kill it, however, the problem of Mr. Poindexter remains. He is a man of dubious background and dubious ideas. A retired rear admiral, he served as Ronald Reagan's national security adviser and helped devise the plan to sell arms to Iran and illegally divert the proceeds to the rebels in Nicaragua. He was sentenced to six months in jail for lying to Congress, a conviction overturned on appeal. He resurfaced under the Bush administration at the Pentagon. His first big brainstorm post-9/11 was a program known as Total Information Awareness, designed to identify potential terrorists by compiling a detailed electronic dossier on millions of Americans.
Congress agreed earlier this year to subject that program to strict oversight and prohibit it from being used against Americans. In light of the revelations about the latest Poindexter scheme, Congress obviously did not go far enough. It should close his operation for good. The Senate recently agreed to do just that, adding an amendment to a Defense Department appropriations bill that would terminate funds for the program. The House must now follow suit."
The Bush administration's spin factory is working over-time now, to overcome the scandals of their lying and cover-up on 9/11 and the illegal and immoral incursion into Iraq.
The Bush Gang's contempt for the rule of law, and for the laws of this country warrants an investigation and the impeachment of Bush & Cheney, and the resignations of Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfwitz.
Today, the White House announces it will not release the 28 pages from the 9/11 investigative report, which we have the right to know:-- Both Republican and Democratic Congressmen who read the report, have indeed, called for the White House to release it, and stated that its publication would not threaten our national security. It would only threaten to expose the outright falsehoods by Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.
The "classified" information would give us insight into those foreign interests who funded the Saudi Arabian and Egyptian terrrorists responsible for 9/11 (No Iraqis were involved, although the Bush Gang dishonestly implied they were to fuel the fury for their illegal & immoral Iraqi War). Moreover, the links between the Bush Family & the Dictatorial Saudi Royal Family (no "freedom" for Saudi people under their Monarchial Regime) are long-standing.
Daddy Bush 41 and Baby Bush 43, are alleged to have financial interests in the Carlyle Group, supposedly used to channel money from their buddies, the Saudi Royal Family, who have terrorized their own people (ala Saddam Hussein). The torture and deaths of Saudis has been common knowledge for years, and there are reports of campaign contributions that helped them finance Bush Family campaigns for the positions of Governor of Texas & Presidencies of the USA. The Saudi Royal Family has allegedly funded millions to support the Bush Family for years and have received many rewards from the Good Ole' American Taxpayer from the Bush Gangs for doing so.
The Bush Gang probably do not want their ties to the Saudi Royal Family, with respect to the knowledge both groups had prior to the attack on 9/11, to be made public. Nor, do they want their lies and deceit surrounding Iraq to be made public. Hence, the "dog-and-pony" shows by Wolfowitz & Bremer, in which a false picture of the situation in Iraq was portrayed. It is not rosy in Iraq, but instead, it is bleak for Iraqis, and bleak for our US Military men and women.
Yesterday, Professor Isam al-Khafaji, a former member of the Iraqi reconstruction council, explains his decision to resign in a letter sent to Wolfowitz, and published in the UK Guardian on-line. Please read entire text of his letter on : http://www.guardian.co.uk/com...,3604,1007045,00.html
There is a similar trend of cover-up and deception by the Bush/Cheney gang, in the Iraq guerilla quagmire, as with the 9/11 cover-up. Wolfowitz and Bremer made the rounds of the talk shows this last weekend, and spinned a web of lies, that is clearly disputed by reports from the ground.
The situation in Iraq is far from rosy, and indeed, is chaotic. Bush & Cheney made certain to protect oil fields, leaving the people in a lawless state without protection, water, electricity, food, health care and other necessities. This does not constitute "freedom". Indeed, there can be no "freedom" with terror and lawlessness.
Prof. Isam al-Khafaji is a professor of political economy at the University of Amsterdam and author of the forthcoming Tormented Births: Passages to Modernity in Europe and the Middle East. He was a member of the Democratic Principles Working Group convened by the US state department to discuss the future of Iraqi governance. A few excerpts from his resignation letter are as follows:
"My understanding of this council, which first reported to retired general Jay Garner, and is now under civil administrator Paul Bremer, was that we would work with Iraq's ministries, not as ministers, but in the background as advisers. Its goal was to restore Iraq's badly damaged infrastructure - the electricity, the hospitals, the water supplies and the transportation routes - at least to its pre-war state so that the country could be turned over to a transitional government. "
"There was euphoria when Baghdad first fell, but the Americans acted with arrogance. While many Iraqis are relieved to see Saddam out, and accept the fact that the US is the only power than can secure some semblance of order, they now see it acting as an occupier."
"Sadly, the vision for a transitional government and democratic elections put forward by Wolfowitz seems to have been forgotten in the everyday pressures of postwar Iraq. Wolfowitz is just one player and there are many others on the ground in Iraq who do not share his vision. Even the soldiers here bluntly say they take their orders from their general, not from Bremer."
"Bitter disputes between the defence department and the state department continue to affect the situation. Even though Bremer has the formal authority within Iraq, it seems like each and every decision must go back to Washington, and we are the victims of indecision."
"Iraq is now in almost total chaos. No one knows what is going on. We're not talking here about trying to achieve an ideal political system. People cannot understand why a superpower that can amass all that military might can't get the electricity back on. Iraqis are now contrasting Saddam's ability to bring back power after the war in 1991 to the apparent inability of the US to do so now. There are all kinds of conspiracy theories."
Also refer to Robert Fisk's articles published on ZNet and the Independent UK websites. Mr. Fisk described the horrific massacre of innocent Iraqis in a raid intended to capture Saddam Hussein, but instead resulted in a slaughter. The anger in Iraq in the aftermath of this callous attack, has been widely reported in the main-stream press.
The brave men and women in the US Military serving in Iraq, and their families should be very, very worried. Eventually, the Iraqi will people learn that the Bush administration has sold off their country's assets (oil), and awarded contracts to Bush's cronies: Big Oil, Halliburton, Bechtel, and others, who will exploit Iraq to enjoy the fat, juicy profits at their expense. Once the Iraqis discover that they have no voice, no say so, no "freedom" to ensure that they are the beneficiaries, rather than Bush's Corporate Robber-barons:-- Then to be an American in Iraq will be extremely dangerous, fatal.
"We the People" must halt the Bush Administration's Crimes against Humanity, benefitting their Corporate Cronies & Paymasters, and neither the American citizens, nor the Iraqi people. We must not become their useful idiots, nor their collaborators.
The Death Toll of our American soldiers in Iraq keeps rising every day in this insane botched-up guerilla quagmire, a war of attrition. In the meantime, the loved ones of Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz are enjoying their summer fests in Old Europe, 1st class, of course, skimming the cream off of Bush's nice fat, juicy tax cuts for the hyper-rich, that have triggered slashed services and local/state tax hikes hitting the lower income, middle-class, and fixed-income retirees hard.
In the Media & Guardian on-line, Rob Kennedy reports:
"A rocket-propelled grenade strikes from out of nowhere, incinerating an American Humvee military transport on a highway near Baghdad. One US soldier killed, three wounded."
"When the explosion is heard, a group of Iraqi civilians nearby gathers at the site of the smoldering aftermath, reports CNN's Harris Whitbeck. When they realise it was an attack on a US military force, they erupt in cheers, and that cheering lasts several minutes."
"Another day in Iraq, another dead US soldier."
"Since US President George Bush declared an end to major conflict in Iraq on May 1, 49 American troops have died in hostile encounters, and hundreds more have been wounded. The total military death toll, including accidents and friendly fire, stands at 163 -- 16 more than the first Gulf War in 1991."
Now the American & British death toll in Iraq is at 289, with the American deaths now surpassing 240. Browse through the names, faces and information about our brave men & women killed on : http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2...
Don't bother to search for anyone related to Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, or the other neo-con war-mongers amongst those fallen Americans. You won't find any "chicken-hawks" making any sacrifices for the good ole' USA.
Over 10 Americans have been killed since the deaths of Udai & Qusai. Bush's lust to find Saddam Hussein in order take the sting out of the increasing US casualties, has also resulted in the deaths of innocent Iraqis.
Kennedy continues: "Many US troops say they are not surprised by increasing attacks or displays of anger among Iraqis, the Washington Post reports. While no official statistics exist, Iraq's civilian death toll since the war began March 20 is an estimated to be between 6 000 and 7 800."
""Wouldn't you be mad if they invaded your country?" James McNeely, a member of the US National Guard, asks a Post reporter."
""I want to go home.""
"Chaos still reigns large in Iraq. Besides the lack of security, problems with water and electricity remain, unemployment is rampant, and as Jonathan Steele of The Guardian newspaper points out, there is the "daily indignity of seeing foreign troops on their streets"."
"With the occupation costing $3,9-billion a month, Iraq being liberated from Saddam's evil grip, and no weapons of mass destruction anywhere in sight, the justification for occupying Iraq is also being questioned more and more back in the US."
"According to a July Washington Post-ABC News poll, 40% of Americans say the war with Iraq was not worth fighting, up from 27% in late April. The same poll found 52% believe US casualties in Iraq have reached an "unacceptable" level."
Hundreds of Americans and thousands of innocent Iraqis, have given their lives based upon a pack of lies, cynically hoisted upon us by the corrupt Bush/Cheney junta. When the Iraqi people discover that their oil has been stolen to enrich Bush's cronies: Big Oil, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc., then god help the poor American soldiers on the ground in Iraq.
"We the People" should express our outrage at this insane blood-letting, lest we be rightly charged by future generations with standing-by and saying nothing, while our Government commits Crimes against Humanity. Express your outrage to your elected representatives on : http://www.congress.org , asking for the trial and impeachment of George Walker Bush & Dick Cheney, and the resignations of Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.
The blood-thirsty Bush Gang's blood-letting of our US Military soldiers and innocent Iraqis has exceeded the bounds of acceptable rules of engagement in warfare, and, now constitutes Crimes Against Humanity.
Bush & Cheney, Rice & Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz & Bremer, are acting recklessly in their desperation to regain political popularity, lost to those who watch in horror, as over 241 Americans have been killed in Iraq (162 killed in combat), and between 6076 & 7787 Iraqi civilians are dead, on the basis of an illegal and immoral incursion into Iraq. Refer to Iraqi body-count on : http://www.iraqbodycount.net/...
The Bush Gang lied and deceived the American People, while ridiculing, intimidating, coercing and punishing those Nations and American citizens who disagreed with their lust for war, and their fraudulent rationale.
In the aftermath of Bush's bizarre, bombastic May 1st "victory dance", extravagantly staged on the USS Abraham Lincoln, (cynically devised to use in the 2004 Presidential Campaign), he bragged "Mission Accomplished!" with no "murky" qualifiers. It was a pathetic performance by a petty-minded man with no conception of the carnage and misery he has unleashed, and what is worse, no interest in it. Bush & Cheney are now running around the country, holding Campaign Fund-raisers, and getting those Rich Robber-barons who were awarded massive tax cuts to the richest of the rich, to send in their $2000/plate checks as fast as they can write 'em. Yes, Bush & Cheney will attempt to buy the highest office in the land, or stage another rigged banana republican coup d'etat ala 2000.
Meanwhile, they are so desperate to obtain a "win" in Iraq, at all costs, that they have abandoned disciplined & measured reason. Beware of ruthless and desperate men: they'll destroy anyone in their wake to achieve their aims. The pressure brought about by Bush, Cheney, Rice, and the Rumsfeld Gang, upon our US Military, has resulted in a horrific tragedy for Iraqi citizens innocently caught in the cross-fire.
The loss of life of 11 Iraqi citizens yesterday, in a raid to find Saddam Hussein, is another monstrous example, of the consequences associated with a Rogue Regime, run amok: Bush's Rogue Regime. These innocents were massacred, because of the insanely intense pressure upon our US Military to find Saddam in the hopes of rehabilitating the corrupt Bush administration's sullied reputation.
The Bush administration couldn't find Osama bin Laden, the real perpetrator of 9/11, who had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein (who didn't threaten us, and had no ability to harm us, and wasn't involved in 9/11). The entire world sees the Bush Rogue Regime for the terrorists they are, in waging an incursion into a sovereign nation, based upon a phony, fabricated threat of WMDs posing a supposed "imminent threat"-- now seen by all, except for neo-con fascists, as the Big Lie.
Ironically, Bush & Cheney "need" Saddam Hussein. Boy, do they "need" Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein might just "save their hides"! Our American soldiers & innocent Iraqis are paying the outlandish price in blood and treasure to save Bush's "hide".
Fisk is on the ground in Iraq, and reports:
"When another car arrived US troops riddled it with more bullets and it burst into flames. It is believed that two people were inside and both were burnt to death. "The Americans didn't try to help the civilians they had shot, not once," a witness said. "They let the car burn and left the bodies where they lay, even the children. It was we who had to take them to the hospitals."
"Yet again, false informers, ill-trained American soldiers who appeared to exercise no fire control and a lack of military planning has created a tragedy among the people the Americans claimed to be 'liberating' from Saddam Hussein only 15 weeks ago. Last night, there were reports from the southern city of Karbala that three men had been shot dead by American troops during a demonstration."
The Bush/Cheney junta's desperation is dangerous. The Bush/Cheney junta's arrogant rhetoric is bombastic and obscene. The Bush/Cheney junta's actions are outrageous and criminal.
The Bush/Cheney junta may re-gain a sort-of fickle "popularity" amongst brutish, neo-con minds who see war as a "game" to "win" at all costs, if they capture Saddam Hussein. (Bush & Rice mistake their love affair with football games, for warfare which they know nothing about.) However, they have squandered any trust and credibility they might have obtained amongst enlightened minds and the Iraqi people. Their obsessive self-interest and greed is despicable, and the consequences of their obsessions are tragic for those destroyed in the wake of their corrupt actions.
"We the People" should hang our head in shame at the outrageous blood-letting of innocent Iraqis, which the Bush administration falsely purports to be "liberating". Instead they have massacred thousands, and raped them economically as the Iraqis have no voice in the take-over of their assets & contracts awarded to benefit Bush's cronies (Big Oil, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc.) instead of benefitting the Iraqi people. The Bush administration's concern about the Iraqi people is as phony as their WMDs fish tale (and as smelly).
Bush & Cheney may find themselves winning a Pyrrhic Victory, with so much blood spilt and so much misery, that it leaves the world angry and soured to the US neo-Rogue Regime. Karl Rove will most likely be squandering millions of additional of taxpayer dollars to produce a new Bush photo-op, since Bush's May 1st "Mission Accomplished" buffoonery is better suited to a "Politically Incorrect" Satirical Farce: It sorely demonstrates that we lack a distinguished and wise world leader.
Once upon a time, the Wolf said "It's a Monster" ... later, no Monster appeared, and, Little Red Citizen said "But No One's There!-- There is No Monster". The Wolf Then Said "It's Murky" ...
The Bush administration is working overtime now, in it's panic-stricken modus operandi to convince us that 2 + 2 = anything but 4! Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz have told so many lies, so many outright fantasies, costing the lives of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis, that Americans are shell-shocked. While we're in a state of shock, they've come up with their new tactic: "it's mmmuuurrrkkkyyy".
The Wolf Wolfowitz has a new Karl Rove whopper that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz desperately hope will persuade a sleeping, not terribly alert American public, to divert our attention away from their economic rape of America, Iraq and other countries. If the American public buy this boloney, then Karl Rove is indeed, the "Boy Genius"!
Americana is corrupted to the point that the people are being persuaded that being raped and ravaged by the Corporate Robber-barons and Bush thugs is tantamount to being Lucky, Lucky, Lucky! This corrupt Bush administration is turning taxpayer money into Multi-Million Dollar Jackpots to bribe Iraqis to turn in Saddam Hussein, having already squandered $30 Million to finger Udai & Qusai-- due to their own inept, bumbling, stumbling, incompetent planning.
Today Wolfy-Wolfowitz made the rounds of the Sunday morning talk-shows, arrogantly pronouncing that intelligence is "murky". Now we're supposed to be brain-washed into thinking that key decisions to enter into War upon Sovereign Nations (in an age of advanced technologies with satellite photography able to distinguish the numbers on a mailbox from thousands of miles in space), are based upon "murky" stuff? Come on, folks!
Americans love lotteries... Americans love to win at all costs... Americans don't like intellectuals preferring instead cowboy, macho-man buffoonery... Americans aren't terribly interested in nuance and truth: but, consider, how scammed, how conned, how bamboozled, we as a people are willing to become. We are being used by the Bush Regime massacring hundreds of our own people, and thousands of innocent Iraqis, for their own greedy interests alone.
The Iraqi people are told to accept the "freedom" of their country's assets (oil) being sold off without their input; contracts given to Bush's buddies Big Oil, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc. without their review, assessment & say so; and, told that the lawlessness, chaos and misery of the American Occupation is "normal" 'cause, according to Rumsfeld: "stuff happens". Rummy Rumsfeld, Incompetent Rice, & Arrogant Wolfowitz (henchmen of neo-CEO Bush & neo-COO Cheney), didn't sound "murky", when spitting their dishonest rhetoric, during the pre-war sales campaign orchestrated to whip us up into a frenzy.
Newt Gingrich, the neo-con "attack dog" who prostitutes for Bush & Cheney Family Inc., neo-con court jesters like Limbaugh, Savage, Coulter, Krauthammer, and other mediocrities desperate for funding by the neo-fascist AEI, have said: "Aren't you happy that the rapists like Udai and Qusai are gone?" ... Hmmmm, lots of lower-income, middle-class, fixed-income retireers, will be glad for a day when all the rapists & terrorists are gone, both: corporeal (e.g. Saddam Hussein, Mugabe, Kim Jong Il, Saudi Royal Family, etc.), and, civic (e.g. the Bush/Cheney/Rice/Rumsfeld /Wolfowitz goons, Blair, etc.). What Saddam Hussein & Sons did to their citizen's bodies, the Bush/Cheney junta are doing to our economy and environment.
"Murky"? There wasn't anything "murky" in the pronouncements of the Bush Spin Factory and Special Effects Labs, prior to their illegal & immoral incursion into Iraq. The NEW neo-con propaganda: "Murky"? ... Tell the American People , the "murky" nature of the following:
LIE #1: "The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program ... Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment need for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons." – President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in Cincinnati.
Murky? Nope, nothing murky-- this is an outright lie and has proved bogus.
LIE #2: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." – President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, in the State of the Union address.
Murky? Nope, nothing murky-- no nuance, no qualification-- simply an outright lie. NSA Rice is supposed to vet the President's statements, and, received a memo from the CIA warning that this was a false & phony fabrication. Rice has been exposed as a liar, incompetent or both.
LIE #3: "We believe [Saddam] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." – Vice President Cheney on March 16, 2003 on "Meet the Press."
Murky? Nope, nothing murky-- Rumseld said that Cheney "misspoke" or was "mistaken" ... but did Cheney issue a retraction? You guess ...
LIE #4: "We have also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We are concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] for missions targeting the United States." – President Bush, Oct. 7.
Murky? Nope, nothing murky-- the aerial vehicle was a plywood model airplane patched together with duct tape that couldn't fly more than a few feet.
LIE #5: "We have seen intelligence over many months that they have chemical and biological weapons, and that they have dispersed them and that they're weaponized and that, in one case at least, the command and control arrangements have been established." – President Bush, Feb. 8, 2003, in a national radio address.
Murky? Nope, nothing murky-- and, none have been found. The Iraqi weapons weren't used to attack us or attack others.
LIE #6: "We know where [Iraq's WMD] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat." – Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003, in statements to the press.
Murky? Nope, nothing murky:-- Where are they, Mr. Rumsfeld?
A few examples, amongst many, many statements by the Bush gang, with no nuance, no qualifications, no "murkiness" ... but instead, very, very definitive statements which proved bogus.
The unpleasant reality is that Bush & Cheney are caught with their proverbial "pants down"-- and it ain't a pretty sight. Moreover, they are desperate to avoid pressure by America to involve the experienced UN in the current guerilla quagmire, because the Iraqi people might "wise-up" and demand their right to exploit their own resources for their own benefit. This wouldn't generate obscene profits for the Bush/Cheney Corporate Robber-barons: Big Oil, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc. who have obtained exploitative contracts that would do Udai & Qusai proud.
Why should Americans earning lower-incomes, the middle-class, and fixed-income retirees, bear the back-breaking and heart-wrenching burden of this neo-mafioso Bush Regime's insane wars and corrupt re-distribution of wealth to the Richest of the Rich? Why should Bush's Regime be let "off the hook" having spilt our boys & girls Blood & spent us into a Historically Record-level Deficit in order to enrich their cronies?
"We the People" have been conned, scammed, bamboozled, and raped (in Blood & Treasure) by the Bush administration. The only "murkiness" is the fairy tale story we're being told by the Bush neo-fascist cabal.
Bush's Death Toll in Iraq has risen to over 241 Americans, with 162 dying in active combat: representing more deaths than in Daddy Bush's Gulf War. Four of our service men have died since yesterday, following Wolfowitz and Bremer tour of the TV networks proclaiming that the Iraqi people are happy, and that our U.S. service men/women "over there" are tickled pink and morale couldn't be better. Yeah, right.
Would you tell the mafioso Dons Wolfowitz and Bremer that you aren't thrilled to do their bidding? Not if you hoped to return home in one piece, or even with a couple of bits & pieces missing! The facts on the ground tell a very different story. "You have a situation over there where everybody ain't happy; that's just the way it is," said Jack Gordon, a spokesman for the Army Reserve's 99th Regional Readiness Command. Who would have thought that our Pentagon would develop the fine art of understatement!
Saving Private Dietz and his brave comrades-in-arms, should be our first priority. Spec. Clinton Dietz, of the 3rd Infantry Division, bravely told an ABC News reporter on July 16th: "If [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld was here, I'd ask him for his resignation." Here's a man with the courage to face battle (something none of the Bush gang ever did), and the guts to say what many of us feel. Let's hope he makes it home alright ... people like Rummy & Wolfy sure don't want guys like that around.
The attacks waged against our citizens, families of our brave men & women in arms, and, our U.S. Military soldiers, who "dare" to criticize the blood-letting, by the corrupt Bush administration and their neo-con court jesters, is outrageous. It's an infringement upon the very freedoms the glib Bush mafia claims to be giving to the Iraqi people. Bremer brags that Iraqis are now free to go to the universities, hospitals available for all, and hundreds of new newspapers.
(Hmmmmm .... Consider that Bush supports the FCC closing down independent news outlets bought up by Corporate Robber-barons. Bush is doing nothing about over 45 million US citizens without health insurance. Bush is slashing services and increasing taxation for lower-income, middle-class, and fixed-income retirees: unable to afford to send their kids to universities. Perhaps the Bush gang should go to Iraq, since they award freedoms and services to Iraqi people, that they deny to the average American citizens.)
The wife of a soldier in Iraq was criticized for attempting to find out the status of her husband, and warning other wives in the same division-- in the aftermath of an attack outside Baghdad, where he is assigned. Refer to "Military Wife Rebuked for E-Mail" in today's Washington Post on : http://www.washingtonpost.com... . These brave men and women joined-up to serve their country; not to die based upon lies and deceit by a blood-thirsty Bush administration, who waged an illegal and immoral incursion into a sovereign country, to enrich their Corporate paymasters: Big Oil, Halliburton & Bechtel, etc...
We have a right and indeed a duty, to criticize the Bush administration. You won't see a Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, or Wolfowitz, amongst the casualties... the dead... the "collateral damage" in Iraq. Nope, their loved ones are enjoying the booty of the tax cuts for the rich, and "doing Old Europe" 1st class... while our boys & girls are dying.
(Read "Iraq Flap Shakes Rice's Image" on : http://www.washingtonpost.com... -- Scape-goating those in the "bowels" of the organisation, is the modus operandi of the Bush/Cheney/Rice/Rumsfeld /Wolfowitz Gang of Thugs. Why aren't the hyper-rich Bush gang & their Corporate Robber-barons who got juicy tax cuts contributing the $30 Million jackpots for fingering Udai & Qusai, and $25 Million for Saddam Hussein-- after all, this cock-up and quagmire is due to their inept & incompetent planning.)
How dare the White House & the Pentagon and other neo-cons criticize the citizens of this country; the fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters; and, the brave U.S. Military Men & Women-- who question the corrupt crimes perpetrated upon this country by the Corporate Robber-Baron CEO Bush & COO Cheney. Udai & Qusai may have used physical torture, but this administration's intimidation tactics and bully-boy tactics are consistent with dictatorial regimes we rightly condemn.
"We the People" are Shocked and Outraged (not Awed), by the Bush administration's callous and wanton spend-thrift waste of the Lives of our citizens and innocent Iraqis, and the Taxpayer's Treasure.
It is time to call upon Congress to do their duty and launch an open-door investigation into this administration's crimes and cover-ups. Should Congress fail to do their duty, we must voice our opposition to the neo-fascist, neo-feudal slave state the Bush administration is installing here at home and globally in 2004.
Bush and Cheney boasted that they would run the U.S.A. like a Corporation, with Bush serving as Chairman & CEO (Chief Executive Officer), and Cheney as the COO (Chief Operating Officer). They have indeed done so and it has been as perilous for America, as the corrupt practices of Bush's good buddy Kenny-boy Lay, Fastow and Skilling were for Enron.
The American people and the entire world should have been alarmed by this bizarre model that Bush & Cheney decided to super-impose upon Government. But it's been a model that the neo-con reactionaries have lusted to install here at home, and abroad from the Reagan years onwards. Sadly, since most people are very, very ignorant as to the operations and inter-workings of Corporations, there were few alarm bells rung. (An excellent article outlining the direction we're heading, by Clark Kissinger, entitled "The New Domestic Order" on : http://www.zmag.org/content/s... )
The fallacy of Bush's model for a Corporate U.S.A. Inc., is that the very missions, goals and objectives of a Democratic system of Government are entirely at odds with those of Corporations or Big Business.
The principles of our democratic system of government, established by the Founding Fathers, were based upon the European Enlightenment and the Social Contract or Principles of Political Right, by Jean Jacques Rousseau. Our Declaration of Independence that laid down the very mission that our Founding Fathers envisioned for our new nation, states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
Corporations, on the other hand, do not hold any truths to be self-evident except for making a profit. Far from all men being created equal, there is a pyramid structure, and those at the top are above the rule of law, and may arbitrarily decide whom they will listen to; what actions they will take; and, the manner in which they will treat the underlings. The life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, of employees, doesn't matter "dittily-squatt" to the Corporate "top-dogs" and "fat-cats". In fact, the employees are an expense, and unless a given employee performs & performs well without asking any unpleasant questions-- he or she is ousted with no recourse whatsoever. (The only rights a worker has are protected by Government, not by Corporations who are working hard with Bush's support to eliminate them.)
Our Government is composed of laws first established under the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, and, augumented with further legislation as new issues and problems are addressed and resolved via public discourse and informed consensus. This was what the Founding Fathers had in mind, which is why those who criticize legislation not found in the U.S. Constitution, as unnecessary, are ignorant of the process of eternal vigilance in a participative democracy.
Our body of laws are and should be able to be adjusted after a healthy and thorough public debate. There is a real danger when sneaky special interests (Rich Corporate Lobbyists) pay-off or bribe Congress to push through amendments in legislative bills, that aren't even presented to the public, and are not even publicly debated by our elected representatives. There have been far too many examples of this type of shenanigans by the Bush administration and the Republican Congress in the last few years. The White House calls a member of Congress at 5 minutes 'til midnight, just prior to the vote, and gives him an amendment to stick in a bill, which has nothing to do with the bill's purpose-- and, presto: Eli Lily executives pop open the champagne. (Read the text of the Homeland Security Bill to find see the gifts given by Bush (Daddy Bush was on the Board of Eli Lily) to the Pharmaceutical Corporations.) It is an affront to our system of government.
Corporations, unlike the Government, establish rules which they can arbitrarily change at will or at a whim. Indeed, they are only subject by law, to governmental regulations, necessary to refrain them from defrauding or endangering the public, their employees or investors. The wholesale de-regulation beginning in the Reagan years, led to the disastrous defrauding of investors by Corporate Robber-barons & Thieves, like Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay, Garry (Global Crossing Ltd) Winnick, and our own Baby (Harken Oil) Bush. In fact, a Utah stockbroker has created his own "Most Wanted" deck of cards for Corporate Robber-Barons (... hmmmm ... only hope that Bush is the King of Clubs, Cheney is the Queen, and that Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz are given their proper "suits" (empty?)-- for all the goodies they've shoveled towards Halliburton, Bechtel, Big Oil & Big Corporations).
A public debate is needed regarding the insane blurring of the roles of Government and Corporations. We need to re-instate their different purposes and re-establish the respect one held for Government that has perniciously come under attack by the neo-con court jesters, funded by neo-fascist institutions like the AEI (American Enterprise Institute), who are soley interested in furthering the aims of Corporations and Corporate Robber-barons, without any care or concern about the welfare of Human beings, Workers, or the environment.
Tragically, these neo-con, neo-fascists promoting a neo-feudal slave state, also support the arbitrary, whimsical decision-making style of Bush, which is an anathema in a Democratic Leader. In fact, arbitrary rule is more akin to Dictators we condemn like Saddam Hussein. The bully-boy tactics used by Bush and Cheney are common in Corporations (just ask the whistle-blowers at Enron), but must not be permitted in Government: again we condemn that behaviour in dictatorial regimes. Bush, Cheney and their gang are known to punish those who cross them:-- sounds like Udai & Qusai, doesn't it. We ignore such corrupt, intimidation antics of our democratically (s)elected leaders at our own peril.
The Role of an Enlightened Democratic Government is to:
1) Uphold the law and order, without which no "freedom" can occur. (This is why the rhetoric about the USA giving "freedom" to Iraqis is so abominable, since freedom cannot be enjoyed in a climate of fear, chaos, and lawlessness.)
2) Uphold the structure of government and it's institutions, in order for the people to exercise their collective will through their representatives in Congress, the Executive, and the Judicial branches, all of whom have specific responsibilities defined under the constitution, to serve the people.
3) Protect those in society who are helpless in order that they are not tread upon by the powerful, to ensure that all citizens are indeed able to pursue, free of terror or tyranny, life, liberty and happiness. There is an economic tyranny on the low-income, middle-class and fixed-income retirees & elderly, perpetrated by Bush who gave massive tax cuts to the Rich, and thus, unjustly burdened those in need now paying the price in slashed services & increased local/state taxes.
4) Ensure that institutions exist which enable the citizens of a society to prosper: education, clean water, electricity, infrastructure, health care, police, firemen, and all those areas which collectively are needed for a healthy life. (It is ironic that L. Paul Bremer and Wolfowitz have boasted about hospitals working again in Iraq-- when Bush ignores the real problems of over 45 Million Americans with no health coverage right here in the U.S.A.)
5) Defend the country against invaders or aggressors. This does not imply an insane "Pre-emptive" Doctrine, in which the USA becomes the rogue aggressor.
These functions listed above, are the basic purposes of Government.
Corporations exist to make a profit. Without Government regulations, they will do whatever is necessary to enrich those at the Top of the Pyramid, and will exploit human and natural resources wantonly. This is the history of Big Business. Corporations must be regulated to ensure that:
1) Living wages are paid to workers. Ideally, Corporations would love to pay slave-labour wages to minimize their expenses and maximize their profits. They have been lobbying to eliminate minimum wage which is currently sub-poverty-level standard.
2) Reasonable working hours and vacation are protected. Otherwise, they would work people unreasonable hours. Indeed, the Bush administration is already pushing through corrupt legislation designed to eliminate over-time pay for those who are exploited to work on low wages.
3) Working conditions are safe. Read the history of the late 19th & early 20th century, where employees were exposed to hazardous conditions, often dying in mines or factories. The Corporate Robber-barons didn't care and were callous to the damage to health and lives lost.
4) Products and services are safe. Without regulation, food or other products will be sold which are unsafe and potentially life-threatening. Do you want to take a flight on an airplane, for example, which is not inspected? It costs money to ensure safety, that would otherwise fatten the already juicy profits of the "top-dogs" and "fat-cats", if regulation wasn't in place.
5) Environment is protected. The rape and ravage of the environment: polluting the streams and rivers, strip mining leaving areas devastated, killing wildlife habitats-- are all areas that Corporations are not interested in, unless government steps in and sets limits.
6) Accounting regulations and fair taxation is applied. In the UK and Europe, there are stricter accounting regulations to avoid the kind of fraud perpetrated upon the public by our hyper-greedy Corporate Thieves & Rapists. The Corporations have pushed through legislation to avoid using proper accounting practices and paying their fair share in taxes. This is a form of theft and rape of the public who bears the burden of their exploitation, and who pays to clean up their messes left behind in the wake of unemployment and ravaged environments.
Both investment and labour are needed for Corporations to profit. No Corporation can exist without labour, and consequently, the well-being of employees, their families, and their environment is a Right-- a Right hard-fought for by our ancestors with payment in blood. No gifts were awarded to Workers by the Corporate Robber-barons. In their lust to "take the money and run", they are currently with Bush's support, out to eliminate: overtime, social security, public education, and other protections of those who are not rich.
The Bush & Cheney administration are indeed the Corporate President, obscenely attempting to turn the USA & the World into a Global Corporation-- a playground for Corporate Robber-barons, with Human Beings and the Environment, their toys to be exploited.
Bush is like his buddies, Kenny-boy Lay & Cheney, who are callous, thuggish and only acting on behalf of their own greedy interests, without concern for the interests of the People of this country. In that manner, Bush is very much the typical neo-CEO, and Cheney is very much the typical neo-COO.
Our elected leaders chosen to serve the People, must be of a higher caliber than this:
The language a man uses, gives insight into his mind-- and the mind of President Bush is petty and mean.
The policies a man sets, gives insight into his vision-- and the vision of President Bush is limited to the welfare of richest of the rich.
The relationships a man establishes, gives insight into his curiosity-- and the curiosity of Bush is impoverished.
"We the People" had better profoundly consider our choices in the upcoming 2004 election. Please contact your Congressmen and women and demand that the Bush administration be investigated and held accountable for their deceptions and lies, which cost our citizens heavily in Lives and Treasure, in Iraq. (Congress may be e-mailed on: http://www.congress.org)
Those who benefit from the immoral and illegal incursion into Iraq are not those who died, nor the Iraqi people-- but Bush's Corporate buddies like Big Oil, Halliburton & Bechtel:-- war-profitteers who are making out "big time". Furthermore, these Robber-barons have just been awarded fat tax cuts for the rich. But then the Bush Corporate U.S.A. Inc. Motto, was taken right out of the Leona Helmsley handbook: "Only the little people pay taxes".
The Bush administration, Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay, and Corporate Robber-barons, as well as the armed-robber who steals from the local Circle-K, should not be above the Rule of Law. My goodness, even as early as 1215, the Magna Carta codified the principle that even Kings were not above the Rule of Law. When will we ever learn?
The Bush administration is desperate to eradicate the scandal and questions surrounding their lies and deceit regarding the "imminent threat" posed by Saddam Hussein with massive WMDs he would either use himself or give to terrorists.
The Bush administration passionately hopes that the American public will forget all about their crimes, in order to avoid a potential investigation which would probably result in Bush's impeachment and removal from office. Moreover, they are fearful that the increasing outrage at their abuse of power will at the very least, result in a demand for resignations of those who misled Americans and the entire world, most notably: Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.
In a vain attempt to rationalize post facto, the Bush administration's casus belli, to wage war upon a sovereign nation, Iraq, Mr. Cheney gave a speech at the neo-cons favorite watering hole, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he could depend upon his court jesters to cheer at the appropriate pauses.
"At a safe remove from the danger, some are now trying to cast doubt upon the decision to liberate Iraq," Cheney said. "The ability to criticize is one of the great strengths of our democracy. But those who do so have an obligation to answer this question: How could any responsible leader have ignored the Iraqi threat?"
An American Citizen's response to Mr. Cheney, is as follows:
Mr. Cheney,
The greatest strength of our democracy is a set of codified laws, established over the centuries, in order that our citizens comprising diverse faiths, background, cultures, and heritages, may live side-by-side, in relative peace and an assurance of equal justice for all. Theoretically, in our system, no man/woman is above the law, be they a President, Vice-President, Government Official, Rich Investor, Teacher, Journalist, Librarian, Congressman or woman, Carpenter, Engineer, Laborer, Waitress, Pauper, or Unemployed person.
Under our system of government, our body of laws is based upon the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, and those amendments and legislations adopted in order to deliver justice to all. This system of laws has constituted a beacon of light for the entire world.
The Bush administration has trampled on these laws. Our leaders have no legal or moral authority to wage war, based upon deceit or purposely misleading our people-- irrespective of the motives. There is a sacred bond of trust between the citizens of a country, and their leaders; and, once betrayed or broken, it cannot be re-established. And this is not mere criticism, but instead, trust is fundamental to the relationship of our leaders to the people they take a solemn oath to serve.
The Bush administration has betrayed our trust. You are mistaken, Mr. Cheney, in the wrong-headed question that you pose to those of us who are outraged by the Bush administration's behaviour. You ask us to consider, "How could any responsible leader have ignored the Iraqi threat?"
"We the People" would not have expected any responsible leader to have ignored any CREDIBLE or REAL threat. Iraq was not a CREDIBLE or REAL threat. CIA Director George Tenet stated before he was coerced to appear with Powell at the UN: "Baghdad for now appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or C.B.W. against the United States. Should Saddam conclude that a U.S.-led attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions." Many other officials and experts warned that Iraq posed no threat to the USA, prior to Bush's war. (Refer to: "The Prosecution Calls ..." on : http://www.tompaine.com/featu... )
Firstly, it was the Bush administration's responsibility to demonstrate a concrete threat. You, Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Powell, all lied and deceived the American People and the entire world regarding the nature of the threat. Not only was the threat not "imminent", but there was indeed no threat, as Saddam Hussein had expressed no intention, and had no interest in attacking the USA. Moreover, the basis of the threat which you indicated existed: WMDs, re-constituted nuclear programmes, and, relationships with terrorist organisations-- were all bogus and doctored.
However, even if Saddam Hussein had obtained large quantities of WMDs or nuclear weapons, the Bush administration had an obligation to work with the world community to determine an agreed way forward to deal with Iraq as a sovereign nation. (e.g. Bush is dealing with North Korea through China and its neighbors). Additionally, the Bush gang obfuscated by implying Saddam Hussein was a terrorist, or linked with terrorism-- but instead he was a ruthless dictator (like Mugabe, Kim Jong Il, Saudi Royal Family, etc.), ruling over a recognized country.
The UN Inspection process was a deterrent to any possible danger, that Saddam Hussein might have posed to us, our allies, or his own neighbors. Indeed, his own neighbors were opposed to our illegal and immoral incursion into Iraq.
The Bush administration's contempt for the UN and those countries who disagreed with his policies, demonstrated a lack of capability to be a credible and respected world leader. Furthermore, the "Pre-emptive" Doctrine is a coded term for hitlerian-style aggression and incursion, and is a morally bankrupt philosophy.
The only credible justification for an attack upon another country, even if other countries are opposed, is if one is under attack or about to be attacked. In other words, self-defense. Bush's war on Iraq was not self-defense.
Candidate Bush said he would bring civility to Washington D.C., and claimed that one of his strengths was his ability to bring those of differing viewpoints and political parties together. Not only has he demonstrated an appalling lack of ability to bring others together, but his bully-boy tactics have demonstrated that he is inept and incompetent to deal on the world stage.
Bush has created a climate in Washington D.C. that is more acrimonious than any in recent history. The Bush administration's secrecy and lack of transparency is a danger to our democratic system of government. The Bush administration was not given a mandate, but has recklessly used coercion and bribery to achieve ends that are harmful to many Americans and the entire world.
Nixon was destroyed by the Watergate scandal based upon covering-up a break-in due to paranoia about his election prospects. Clinton was impeached because he lied under oath about a sexual relationship. Neither of these abuses of power, resulted in the loss of lives of our American Military personnel, or innocent civilians.
The Bush administration lies and deceit have resulted in Blood-letting of hundreds of our American citizens, and thousands of innocent Iraqis.
You glibly stated that criticism is a great strength of democracy. But criticism is meaningless, unless it can affect changes based upon a national discourse and informed consensus. You and the Bush gang have squelched questions, discussions, and investigations. Our most sacred strength of democracy is the rule of law, and should that fall, we will no longer have the Republic for which it stands.
"We the People" will continue to press Congress to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's crimes. Should Congress refuse to do their duty, then we will express our outrage in 2004.
Every so often, I publish here an excellent article, mined out of a more obscure, but respectable source. The following article by John Dean, entitled "Inquire Within", published on http://www.tompaine.com, is well-worth reading:
John Dean is the former White House counsel for President Richard Nixon and author of the new book, The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court.
The heart of President Bush's January 28 State of the Union address was his case for going to war against Saddam Hussein. In making his case, the president laid out fact after fact about Saddam's alleged unconventional weapons. Indeed, the claim that these weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed an imminent threat was his primary argument in favor of war.
Now, as more and more time passes with WMD still not found, it seems that some of those facts may not have been true. In particular, recent controversy has focused on the president's citations of British intelligence purportedly showing that Saddam was seeking "significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
In this column, I will examine the publicly available evidence relating to this and other statements in the State of the Union concerning Saddam's WMD. Obviously I do not have access to the classified information the president doubtlessly relied upon. But much of the relevant information he drew from appears to have been declassified and made available for inquiring minds.
What I found in critically examining Bush's evidence is not pretty. The African uranium matter is merely indicative of larger problems and troubling questions of potential and widespread criminality when taking the nation to war. It appears that not only the Niger uranium hoax, but most everything else that Bush said about Saddam Hussein's weapons, was false, fabricated, exaggerated or phony.
In his State of the Union, Bush repeatedly presented beliefs, estimates and educated guesses as established fact. Genuine facts are truths that can be known or are observable, and the distance between fact and belief is uncertainty, which can be infinite. Authentic facts are not based on hopes or wishes or even probabilities. Now, it is little wonder that none of the purported WMDs have been discovered in Iraq.
So egregious and serious are Bush's misrepresentations that they appear to be a deliberate effort to mislead Congress and the public. So arrogant and secretive is the Bush White House that only a special prosecutor can effectively answer and address these troubling matters. Since the Independent Counsel statute has expired, the burden is on President Bush to appoint a special prosecutor -- and if he fails to do so, he should be held accountable by Congress and the public.
In making this observation, I realize that some Republicans will pound the patriotism drum, claiming that anyone who questions Bush's call to arms is politicizing the Iraqi war. But I have no interest in partisan politics, only good government -- which is in serious trouble when we stop debating these issues, or absurdly accuse those who do of treason.
As Ohio's Republican Senator Robert A. Taft, a man whose patriotism cannot be questioned, remarked less than two weeks after Pearl Harbor, "[C]riticism in time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government.... [T]he maintenance of the right of criticism in the long run will do the country... more good than it will do the enemy [who might draw comfort from it], and it will prevent mistakes which might otherwise occur." (Emphasis added.)
It is in that sprit that I address Bush's troubling assertions.
A Closer Look At Bush's Facts in the State of the Union
Bush offered eight purported facts as the gist of his case for war. It appears he presented what was believed to be the strongest evidence first:
Purported Bush Fact 1: "The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons materials sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed it. "
Source: Bush cites the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) 1999 Report to the U.N. Security Council. But most all the report's numbers are estimates, in which UNSCOM had varying degrees of confidence.
In addition, UNSCOM did not specifically make the claim that Bush attributes to it. Instead, the report only mentions precursor materials ("growth media") that might be used to develop anthrax. One must make a number of additional assumptions to produce the "over 25,000 liters of anthrax" the president claimed.
Earlier the same month, in a January 23 document, the State Department similarly cited the UNSCOM report, although noticeably more accurately than the president: "The U.N. Special Commission concluded that Iraq did not verifiably account for, at a minimum, 2160 kg of growth media. This is enough to produce 26,000 liters of anthrax." (Emphasis added.) State does not explain how it projected a thousand liters more than the president.
And two days after the State of the Union, in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage addressed the UNSCOM estimates in a more truthful light: as a reference to the "biological agent that U.N. inspectors believe Iraq produced." (Emphasis added.)
It short, in the State of the Union, the president transformed UNSCOM estimates, guesses and approximations into a declaration of exact amounts, which is a deception. He did the same with his statement about botulinum toxin.
Purported Bush Fact 2: "The Union Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure. He hasn't accounted for that material. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed it."
Source: Bush cited the same UNSCOM Report. Again, he transformed estimates, or best guesses -- based on the work of the UNSCOM inspectors and informants of uncertain reliability -- into solid fact.
His own State Department more accurately referred to the same information as "belief," not fact: "Iraq declared 19,000 liters (of Botulinum toxin) [but the] U.N. believes it could have produced more than double that amount." (Emphasis added.)
Purported Bush Fact 3: "Our intelligence sources estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents also could kill untold thousands. He has not accounted for these materials."
Source: Here, at least Bush admits that he is drawing upon estimates -- but this time he leaves out other qualifiers that would have signaled the uncertainty his own "intelligence sources" felt about these purported facts.
In October 2002, a CIA report claimed that Iraq "has begun renewed production of chemical warfare agents, probably including mustard, sarin, cyclosarin and VX." Bush omitted the "probably." The CIA also added still more caveats: "More than 10 years after the Gulf war, gaps in Iraqi accounting and current production capabilities strongly suggest that Iraq maintains a stockpile of chemical agents, probably VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard." (Emphases added.)
Bush, his speechwriters and his advisers left all these caveats out. How could they have? Did they not think anyone would notice the deceptions?
Purported Bush Fact 4: "U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them, despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them."
Source: Bush cites "U.S. intelligence" for this information, but it appears to have first come from UNSCOM. If so, he seems to have doubled the number of existing munitions that might be, as he argued, "capable of delivering chemical agents."
UNSCOM's report, in its declassified portions, suggests that UNSCOM "supervised the destruction of nearly 40,000 Chemical munitions (including rockets, artillery and Aerial bombs, 28,000 of which were filled)." And UNSCOM's best estimate was that there were 15,000 -- not 30,000 -- artillery shells unaccounted for.
The CIA's October 2002 report also acknowledges that "UNSCOM supervised the destruction of more than 40,000 chemical munitions." Yet none of its declassified documents support Bush's contention in the State of the Union that 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical weapons remain unaccounted for.
Where did Bush's number come from? Was it real -- or invented?
Purported Bush Fact 5: "From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them."
Source: The three informants have still not been identified -- even though the administration now has the opportunity to offer asylum to them and their families, and then to disclose their identities, or at least enough identifying information for the public to know that they actually exist, and see why the government was prone to believe them.
Moreover, there is serious controversy as to whether the mobile weapons labs have been found. After the war, the CIA vigorously claimed two such labs had been located. But Iraqi scientists say the labs' purpose was to produce hydrogen for weather balloons. And many months later, no other Iraqi scientists -- or others with reason to know -- have been found to contradict their claims. Meanwhile, the State Department has publicly disputed the CIA (and DIA) claim that such weapons labs have been found.
All informant intelligence is questionable. Based on this intelligence, the president should have said that "we believe" that such labs existed -- not that "we know" that they do. "Belief" opens up the possibility we could be wrong; claimed "knowledge" does not.
As with his other State of the Union statements, the president presented belief as fact and projected a certainty that seems to have been entirely unjustified -- a certainty on the basis of which many Americans, trusting their president, supported the war.
John Dean is the former White House counsel for President Richard Nixon and author of the new book, The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court.
Purported Bush Fact 6: "The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb."
Source: The IAEA did provide some information to this effect, but the IAEA's own source was Iraq itself. According to Garry B. Dillon, the 1997-99 head of IAEA's Iraq inspection team, Iraq was begrudgingly cooperating with UNSCOM and IAEA inspections until August 1998.
Moreover, a crucial qualifier was left out: Whatever the program looked like in the early or mid-1990s, by 1998, the IAEA was confident it was utterly ineffective.
As the IAEA's Dillon further reports, as of 1998, "there were no indications of Iraq having achieved its program goals of producing a nuclear weapon; nor were there any indications that there remained in Iraq any physical capability for production of amounts of weapon-usable nuclear material of any practical significance." (Emphases added)
Later, IAEA's own January 20, 2003 Update Report to the UN's Security Council reiterated the very same information Dillon had reported.
It is deceptive to report Iraq's 1990's effort at a nuclear program without also reporting that -- according to a highly reliable source, the IAEA -- that attempt had come to nothing as of 1998. It is even more deceptive to leave this information out and then to go on -- as Bush did -- to suggest that Iraq's purportedly successful nuclear program was now searching for uranium, implying it was operational when it was not.
In making this claim, Bush included his now discredited 16-word claim.
Purported Bush Fact 7: "The British government has learned Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Source: Media accounts have shown that the uranium story was untrue -- and that at least some in the Bush administration knew it. I will not reiterate all of the relevant news reports here, but I will highlight a few.
The vice president's office had questions about the Niger uranium story. Ambassador Wilson was dispatched to learn the truth and found it was counterfeit information. Wilson advised the CIA and State Department that the Niger documents were forgeries, and presumably the vice president learned these facts.
The Niger uranium story was reportedly removed from Bush's prior October 7, 2002 speech because it was believed unreliable -- and it certainly became no more reliable thereafter. Indeed, only days after Bush's State of the Union, Colin Powell refused to use the information in his United Nation's speech because he did not believe it to be reliable.
Either Bush's senior advisers were aware of this hoax, or there was a frightening breakdown at the National Security Council -- which is designed to avoid such breakdowns. Neither should be the case.
In fact, it is unconscionable, under the circumstances, that the uranium fabrication was included in the State of the Union. And equally weak, if not also fake, was Bush's final point about Saddam's unconventional weapons.
Purported Bush Fact 8: "Our intelligence sources tell us that [Saddam Hussein] has attempted to purchase high strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production."
Source: Bush is apparently referring to the CIA's October 2002 report -- but again, qualifiers were left out, to transform a statement of belief into one of purported fact.
The CIA report stated that "Iraq's aggressive attempts to obtain proscribed high-strength aluminum tubes are of significant concern. All intelligence experts agree that Iraq is seeking nuclear weapons and that these tubes could be used in a centrifuge enrichment program. Most intelligence specialists assess this to be the intended use, but some believe that these tubes are probably intended for conventional weapons programs." (Emphases added).
By January 20, 2003 the IAEA -- which has more expertise than the CIA in the matter -- had completed its investigation in Iraq of the aluminum tubes. It concluded that, as the Iraqi government claimed, the tubes had nothing to do with nuclear weapons, rather they were part of their rocket program.
Thus, eight days before Bush's State of the Union, the IAEA stated in its report to the Security Council, "The IAEA's analysis to date indicates that the specifications of the aluminum tubes recently sought by Iraq appear to be consistent with reverse engineering of rockets. While it would be possible to modify such tubes for the manufacture of centrifuges, they are not directly suitable for such use."
In short, Bush claimed the tubes were "suitable for nuclear weapons production" when only a week earlier, the IAEA -- which had reason to know -- plainly said that they were not. Today, of course, with no nuclear facilities found, it is clear that the evidence that the IAEA provided was correct.
Bush's Stonewalling And The Polk Precedent
Bush closed his WMD argument with these words: "Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide." The he added, "The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary, he is deceiving."
Unfortunately, it seems that Bush may have been deceiving too. Urgent and unanswered questions surround each of the eight statements I have set forth. Questions surrounding the uranium story are only indicative, for similar questions must be asked about the other statements as well.
But so far, only the uranium claim has been acknowledged as a statement the president should not have made. Nonetheless, the White House had been stonewalling countless obvious and pressing questions, such as: When did Bush learn the uranium story was false, or questionable? Why did he not advise Congress until forced to do so? Who in the Bush White House continued to insist on the story's inclusion in the State of the Union address? Was Vice President Cheney involved? Who got the CIA to accept the British intelligence report when they had doubts about it?
Bush is not the first president to make false statements to Congress when taking the nation to war. President Polk lied the nation into war with Mexico so he could acquire California as part of his Manifest Destiny. It was young Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln who called for a Congressional investigation of Polk's warmongering.
Lincoln accused Polk of "employing every artifice to work round, befog and cover up" the reasons for war with Mexico. Lincoln said he was "fully convinced, of what I more than suspect already, that [Polk] is deeply conscious of being wrong." In the end, after taking the president to task, the House of Representatives passed a resolution stating that the war with Mexico had been "unnecessary and unconstitutionally commenced by the president."
Not unlike Polk, Bush is currently hanging onto a very weak legal thread -- claiming his statement about the Niger uranium was technically correct because he said he was relying on the British report. But that makes little difference: If Bush knew the British statement was likely wrong, then he knowingly made a false statement to Congress. One can't hide behind a source one invokes knowing it doesn't hold water.
Because Bush has more problems than his deceptive statement about Niger uranium, Congressman Lincoln's statement to Polk echoes through history with particular relevance for Bush: "Let him answer fully, fairly and candidly. Let him answer with facts and not with arguments.... Let him attempt no evasion, no equivocation."
It Is A Crime To Make False Statements To Congress
Could Bush and his aides be stonewalling because it is a crime to give false information to Congress? It wasn't a crime in President Polk's day. Today, it is a felony under the false statements statute.
This 1934 provision makes it a serious offense to give a false information to Congress. It is little used, but has been actively available since 1955. That year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in U.S. v. Bramblet, that the statute could be used to prosecute a Congressman who made a false statement to the Clerk of the Disbursing Office of the House of Representatives, for Congress comes under the term "department" as used in the statutes.
Two members of the Bush administration, Admiral John Poindexter and Elliot Abrams, learned about this false statements law the hard way, during the Iran Contra investigation. Abrams pled guilty to two misdemeanors for false statements to Congress, as did Robert McFarlane. (Both were subsequently pardoned by President George H.W. Bush.) Poindexter and Oliver North fought the charges, and won on an unrelated legal technicality.
Later, one of McFarlane's lawyers, Peter W. Morgan, wrote a law journal article about using the false statements statute to prosecute executive officials appearing before Congress. Morgan was troubled by the breadth of the law. It does not require a specific intent to deceive the Congress. It does not require that statements be written or that they be sworn. Congress is aware of the law's breadth and has chosen not to change it.
Maybe presciently, Morgan noted that the false statements statute even reaches "misrepresentations in a president's State of the Union address." To which I would add, a criminal conspiracy to mislead Congress, which involved others at the Bush White House, could also be prosecuted under a separate statute, which makes it a felony to conspire to defraud the government.
Need for A Special Prosecutor To Investigate the WMD Claims
There is an unsavory stench about Bush's claims to the Congress and the nation about Saddam Hussein's WMD threat. The deceptions are too apparent. There are simply too many unanswered questions, which have been growing daily. If the Independent Counsel law were still in existence, this situation would justify the appointment of an Independent Counsel.
Because that law has expired, if President Bush truly has nothing to hide, he should appoint a special prosecutor. After all, Presidents Nixon and Clinton, when not subject to the Independent Counsel law, appointed special prosecutors to investigate matters much less serious. If President Bush is truly the square shooter he portrays himself to be, he should appoint a special prosecutor to undertake an investigation.
Ideally, the investigation ought to be concluded -- and the issue cleared up -- well before the 2004 election, so voters know the character of the men (and women) they may or may not be re-electing.
Family, loved ones and friends of those who have died, and continue to die, in Iraq deserve no less.
The author thanks Richard Leone for the quote from Senator Taft, which is drawn from his newly-released work The War On Our Freedoms. He also thanks Professor Stanley I. Kutler for the quote of Congressman Lincoln demanding that President Polk answer without evasion or equivocation.
This commentary first appeared on FindLaw.com on July 18, 2003.
The Media is not reporting the Real Story and the Real Scandal surrounding 9/11, or the incursion into Iraq. Why not? Ask the Media moguls who see the Bush administration as a "gift sent by God" who will hand over the media ownership "lock-stock-and-barrel" to themselves, irrespective of the fact that knowledgeable citizens, and Republican & Democratic Congressmen and women alike, are opposed to the FCC's blatantly corrupt ruling. Indeed, the Republican-ruled House of Representatives voted wisely in a staggering 400-21 majority to over-turn an obviously wrong-headed FCC ruling. Despite White House threats & coercion, they're not as keen, as yet, to turn us into the neo-fascist state, as fast as Bush & Cheney would make it so.
With the news outlets increasingly owned by a few "top-dogs" and "fat-cats" who will push smaller, independent journalists out, and cash in by streamlining the Press and gaining ever-so-many-more big bucks in productivity savings-- "We the People" will obtain our information from fewer and fewer sources. This is dangerous. We claim to love "freedom": This trend will imperil our freedom.
The Media should not be rationalized-- if anything it should be expanded with less ownership than our FCC rules currently allow. During this era of a neo-fascist, neo-corporate state re-constituted by Bush and Cheney, more than ever, many independent reporters, and a wide-range & variety of coverage are needed, not less. The fewer our news and media sources, the more limited, influenced and coerced our Press will become by the corrupt Bush/Cheney junta and their corporate power-brokers.
Hence, even now, we're not being told the truth about 9/11 and about the incursion into Iraq.
The Real Story & The Real Scandal reported by the 9/11 Commission, is not that the amorphous FBI or CIA agents didn't do their jobs properly. Indeed, some of the agents attempted to inform their superiors that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organisation would strike around 9/11. The Real Story & The Real Scandal is that President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, and NSA Rice will not disclose what they knew, the intelligence they were privy to, prior to 9/11.
Indeed, NSA Condi Rice had memorandum from the intelligence agencies on her desk prior to 9/11 advising of the dangers of al Qaeda, and that an attack upon the USA was imminent. Her predecessor, Sandy Berger, had advised her that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda would be her most critical security risk. She did nothing. Indeed, she said that they knew highjacking might occur prior to the attacks upon the World Trade Centre, Pentagon, etc., but could not imagine the highjackers ramming airplanes into buildings. Hmmmm... does that mean, Ms. Rice, you didn't think highjackings were sufficient cause to increase airport security and warn the public? (Perhaps, Bush & Rice should spend less time focusing on football games which they love to watch together. A professional hired to run the NSA is tasked to work with the agency's staff to enumerate potential security risks, scenarios for terrorist attacks, and execute plans for their avoidance and disaster recovery. Rice is clearly "in over her head" and incompetent to serve as NSA.)
The Senate Intelligence Committee should establish hearings and subpoena the Bush administration to testify under oath regarding their knowledge in advance of 9/11, including Cheney's top-secret meetings with the Corporations, Big Oil and Media Barons, to establish the ways and means that the Bush gang used the 9/11 attacks to wage their incursion into Iraq. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz were tripping over themselves in their arrogant panic-stricken modus operandi on 9/11, desperate to launch an attack post-haste upon Iraq. Why did Bush & Cheney lust after a war in Iraq? What were their real motives?
There is indeed a link between 9/11 and Iraq-- not the phony hyped-up lie that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz, shoved down our throats-- but a link manufactured by Bush and his gang who manipulated events and information, that has enabled them to push-through legislation advantageous to Corporations, and harmful to the elderly, low-income, and middle-class Americans, as well as the thousands of innocent lives lost and blood spilt, both on 9/11, and in this horrific Iraqi incursion.
A few days ago, the scary Mr. Cheney gave a talk at the neo-fascist "think-tank", the AEI, with the goon Chalabi sitting next to Mrs. Cheney. Cheney pathetically attempted to say that it's okay to lie, sacrifice our boys & girls, massacre thousands of Iraqis, 'cause Saddam Hussein wasn't nice, and the Iraqi people are "free". "Freedom"? Chaos in Iraq; infrastructure destroyed; thousands of lives lost; no jobs; terror due to lawlessness. Ooooopppppsssss, but they're "free".
Hmmmm, someone should remind the dishonest Mr. Cheney, that his cabal have decided unilaterally to sell-off all of Iraq's assets to his Corporate Robber-baron buddies, and that the Iraqi people have no say in the matter. Moreover, someone should remind the thug, Cheney, that his cabal have decided which Corporations will get fat contracts, and the Iraqi people have no voice in either the review or selection of contracts, and are not permitted to select the best firms offerring the best deals to best benefit the Iraqi people. Some freedom!
The Media is not reporting the Real Story & The Real Scandal regarding the incursion into Iraq, which was a whole-sale Corporate rape of their country by Bush & Cheney's Corporate buddies, promised well in advance of 9/11.
The American People and the World have been conned and scammed. Bush can't even remember his own stumble-bumble rhetoric from one Karl Rove speech to the next, when recently he said in a radio address that one of the reasons we went to war is that Saddam Hussein wouldn't let inspectors into Iraq. Bush probably believes that the right-wingers will believe him! To be a neo-conservative is to believe whatever you're told NOW, and to be sufficiently "well-disciplined" to forget the PAST. Memory is an inconvenient little bugger in Bush's New World Order!
The Senate Intelligence Committee should establish hearings and subpoena the Bush administration to testify under oath regarding their knowledge of the Iraqi WMD and nuclear programmes in advance of waging their illegal & immoral incursion into Iraq. The lies told by Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, & Wolfowitz, and Powell's pathetic "dog-and-pony-show" at the UN, were a disgrace, from which this country has a right, and a duty to extricate itself.
The Media Moguls aka Rupert Murdoch, who is behind the neo-fascist Fox News channel, and is attempting to destroy the BBC, in order to acquire various arms of this great institution-- is greedily attempting to grab all the news outlets & channels possible. To do so, these Media Robber-barons are quite happy to glorify a corrupt administration which will give them the reigns of power they seek. These Media "big-wigs" wined & dined the three Republican FCC board members, including the corrupt Chairman Powell (who said he'll step down after he's finished his dirty work), refused to hold public hearings, and ignored the thousands of requests from citizens to block this ruling. They effectively reported that they got all the "intelligence" they needed from the Media Moguls -- just like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice & Wolfowitz get all their "intelligence" from Halliburton, Bechtel, & Big Oil.
By the way, FCC Chairman Powell is Colin Powell's son who got his job due to his Daddy's connections: this used to be called nepotism, and nepotism used to be considered shameful and in some cases illegal. Not anymore! The gifts, world-wide trips & vacations, and other goodies, lavished upon the three Republican board members including the corrupt Powell (no wonder he can step-down-- he's probably got enough booty now to retire for good!), by the Media Moguls, used to be called bribery, and it used to be illegal. Not anymore! Now it's the standard modus operandi in Washington D.C.
Our sacred motto "Don't Tread on Us" has been transformed in the neo-Washington D.C.-snake-pit, by the Corporate Paymasters and their willing Whores who profit at the expense of America, into "Don't Tread on ME, in My Mad Dash to Cash In Big-time Off of My Connections". One wonders what they see when they look into the mirror: Nothing! No One's There! They Sure As Hell Don't See America!
"We the People" have an obligation to stop this obscene corruption of our very system of democracy, our free press, and our rule of law. It is imperative that we call upon our US Congress (http://www.congress.org) to:
1. Call for investigations into the Bush administration's crimes surrounding the 9/11 attack, and their illegal and immoral incursion into Iraq;
2. Call for the Congress to uphold their rejection of the FCC ruling handing over ownership to a few media moguls with delusions of grandeur. The Bush White House reported they will veto Congress's rejection of the FCC's corrupt ruling. Congress should be called upon to over-ride his veto.; and,
3. Call for the trial and impeachment of Bush and Cheney, and the resignations of Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. They are all unfit to serve in public office.
We must Stop the Corporate Reign and Take-over of America Now!
Bush Administration Ignorant of Iraq - Two More Americans Killed Today
The Bush administration seems to make the same mistake over and over again. Isn't that the first symptom of insanity? They implied that the deaths of Udai and Qusai would inspire fearful Iraqis to gain confidence and rally around the US occupation. This is as absurd as the fairy-tale we were told in the pre-war propaganda sales-pitch that once we entered Baghdad cheering crowds would greet us as the French did when the US tanks rolled into Paris, in the final days of WW2. Neither of Bush's lies convince anyone but those blind to objective reality.
Just how many Human Lives and Treasure will Americans be conned out of by this corrupt Bush/Cheney junta?
The BBC reports: "Two US soldiers killed in Iraq"
"US troops come under daily attack in Iraq: Two American soldiers have been killed and eight others injured in two separate attacks on military convoys in Iraq on Wednesday, the US military says. Both assaults - one near the northern city Mosul, the other in the central town of Ramadi - involved what US Central Command described as "improvised explosive devices" exploding near American vehicles."
"The Mosul attack reportedly involved an explosion detonated by remote control."
"More than 40 US soldiers have died in action in Iraq since the war that toppled Saddam Hussein was declared over on 1 May."
"Wednesday morning's fatalities came amid hopes that reports of the deaths of the former president's sons would sap the morale of those launching attacks on US forces."
Bush's rhetoric would be hilarious, if it wasn't so bizarrely dishonest. On 1st May, in his bombastic photo-op on the air-craft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, he declared "Mission Accomplished!" and that the Iraqi people were free of the evil regime. Bush can't remember what he says from one Karl Rove speech to the next:-- Today Bush states that finally the Iraqi people are free of the evil regime. When was it: 1st May or 23rd July, or some future date?
No wonder the Iraqi people want physical proof of the Hussein brothers deaths:-- they're smart enough not to trust Bush's orwellian double-speak and outright lies. Iraqis continue to tell reporters and military experts that the WMDs were destroyed decades ago. We would do well to follow the Iraqi example, "connect the dots", and expose this corrupt Bush/Cheney cabal for the liars they are, too!
The Bush administration is ignorant of geography, culture, history, finance, and civics. They have demonstrated themselves to be a cabal of neo-fascist fanatics prepared to destroy this country, lives of innocent people, and squander treasure for their own corrupt aims. By the way, you'll notice it's other people's lives, and the good ole' American taxpayer's treasure!
"We the People" should stop fooling ourselves. We're being scammed by Bush in his insane, inept foreign policies, and his corporate-take-all domestic policies. Call for the Bush administration's trial and impeachment now!
There is one attack every two hours in Iraq. A US Soldier is dying practically every day, and the morale of our US Military men and women is desperately low and disenchanted. These brave men and women are continuing to place their precious lives at risk, based upon lies told by Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.
The fact that Saddam Hussein's two sons, Udai & Qusai, were killed by our US Military doesn't change that fact. (Paid for by the Good 'Ole American Taxpayer: $30 Million Dollar Jackpot + $25 Million for Daddy Hussein-- to make up for Bush/Cheney/Rice/Rummy/Wo lfowitz's cock-ups & screw-ups! No wonder there's no money left for badly needed services for elderly, poor & working-class Americans.)
Bush is so shallow and callous, and desperate for any good news, that he practically trips over himself, to dance another victory dance on the White House lawn today. Instead of displaying the gravity and seriousness of a wise leader, he foolishly declares that again we are victorious! By the way, how many "missions accomplished" in Iraq are there? Wouldn't it be nice if the Bush administration would share their "missions" with us, and perhaps with those asked to spill their Blood in Iraq?
Mr. L. Paul Bremer & Rumsfeld look well-rested, well-fed and well-pleased with themselves. Bush happily tells us what a good job they are doing. Tell that to the families of our men and women "tortured & racked by the pain of their wounds, maimed, injured, and murdered" daily in Iraq, inflicted not by Udai or Qusai, but by Bush and his band of bombastic, bumbling, buffoons, who didn't plan the "post-war" (sic) occupation of Iraq properly.
How many times are we going to see Bush's arrogant victory dances designed to cover-up and mask the horror of a botched up invasion, occupation and guerrilla war, all in the name of Big Business and Big Oil. No executives worth their salt are going over to Iraq, until the guerilla war is over.
One middle-manager with no experience, but put in place to manage civil facilities said that if the Iraqi people are desperate and without facilities, it will make them grateful to us for whatever we decide to do for them. Tell that to those Americans and Iraqis who lost loved ones, due to anger caused by Iraq observing their Oil Fields protected, while Human Lives were not. Refer to William Rivers Pitt article entitled "The Crime and the Cover-Up" on : http://www.zmag.org/content/s...
"He basically said this was true, that chaos was good, and out of chaos comes order. So what the Iraqis were saying - that this madness was all on purpose - this intelligence guy didn't discredit. He said, 'If you keep them hungry, they'll do anything for us.'" Are these the types of thugs we have doling out favors in Iraq, under Bremer? Yep, folks, just like the brutal thugs we've got in the White House arbitrarily deciding upon what laws they'll chose to follow and what favors they'll dole out to us if "we're good soldiers" who follow orders blindly.
Having met with a Corporate Executive in Paris, who claimed to know Rumsfeld personally, this administration's contempt for the law and innocent not-so-rich people isn't a surprise. Many months prior to the war in Iraq, he informed me that Rumsfeld was a "good man" (meaning this guy was planning to enjoy the Bush/Cheney Booty-for-the-Rich), who knew what is right for America, and would decide the course. Hmmm... Rumsfeld may think he knows what is right for America, he thinks he knows better than any of us... but he lied and is responsible for hundreds of deaths and thousands of maimings and injuries of our US Military Soldiers, as well as countless deaths, maimings and injuries of innocent Iraqis.
William Rivers Pitt continues: "A friend of mine's husband is an ambassador," said Evans. "I asked him if this was normal operating procedure. He said that, basically, no one will work on this Iraq project who has any respect for their work or career, because it is so clearly a farce. He said that later we will go in after these guys have blown it, but right now with Bremer there it is a farce. Even the press is over there are just shaking their heads and asking, can anyone fail so badly? Can anybody make so many mistakes? You can't imagine they can be so dumb."
"One Iraqi woman I spoke to," said Evans, "said she feels like Iraq is a wounded animal, and everyone is coming in to take their piece of flesh."
"The cover-up is one thing, the crime is another. The Bush administration, mainly in the form of Rumsfeld's Office of Special Plans, disregarded any and all intelligence which said Iraq was no threat. They supplanted reliable data with a slew of lies and exaggerations that were fed daily to the American people and Congress, and got their war. In the aftermath, nothing is being done for the millions of Iraqi civilians who suffer daily under their newfound 'liberty.'"
By the way, how can Rumsfeld have been allowed to set-up an OSP (Office of Special Plans) which was not a proper government agency-- but a fascist arm of the AEI, with neo-cons determined to go to war, and fabricate any so-called "intelligence" to do so. Wouldn't this be considered a criminal act, a sort of coup d'etat in which established governmental departments are bypassed for dictatorial aims?
"We the People" should not be fooled by this administration's "smoke-screens", deceptions, and desperate attempts to paper-over their crimes. It is telling that Bush makes his imperial speeches and then refuses any questions. Emperor Bush has held fewer press conferences (and almost none, zip, zero, nada, with the Media posing any hard questions), than any other president in recent history.
This corrupt administration should be tried and impeached, for they have led us on a long, extravagant course of destruction of the lives of a lot of innocent people, based upon lies, deceit and fraud. The blood and treasure of our country cannot continue to be squandered so viciously, wantonly and callously.
Did Bush's CIA stage the attack on the US Embassy in Liberia?
Bush is in trouble here at home. He is an acknowledged serial-liar, and has very little support to continue to murder our troops, in Liberia for example, with a Death toll of an American per day dying in Iraq.
Could the CIA have staged a little attack on the US Embassy in Monrovia, the capitol of Liberia? Bush certainly seems to have (in his own words "hit the trifecta"-- when it comes to major diversions that take the heat off his problems, but aren't pleasant for the casualties) a lucky-streak in avoiding accountability for his destructive policies. The timing of this attack is as cynically "staged" for political benefit, as was the Hollywood Movie "fairy tale" about Pfc. Jessica Lynch (an innocent service-woman caught up in the Pentagon's spider-web). One could be forgiven for speculating ... given all the others lies the Bush administration has told in recent days.
And Presto! Bush has another phony pretext to send our men and women in the military to Die, in order to divert attention from the Bush/Cheney junta's crimes here at home, and abroad.
Perhaps, a little War in Liberia will divert attention from his Iraqi Deceptions, and the obscene, historical record-level Budget Deficit.
"We the People" had better be diligent, as our government is being highjacked by a corrupt cabal, out to gain control of the world's assets, and drive us off a cliff of bankruptcy here at home. Why? Contact your nearest Corporate Robber-baron at BP, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc., for the answer.
Ever wonder why high-level Ex-Defense Secretaries, Ex-Military/Pentagon Officials, and Ex-Intelligence Agents, are hired for cushy jobs by these same Corporations now Profiting Big Time off of the Blood of Our Military Men & Women, Innocent Iraqis, and the Treasure of the good ole' American Taxpayer?
Dr. David Kelly, an eminent British Scientist, Military Advisor to the Government, and, head of major Biological Weapons programs, was tragically thrown to the Wolves, or Wolf(owitzes)!
Dr. Kelly is purported to have told his family that he did not want to live in the world as it has become, and was betrayed. MI6 and the CIA saw Dr. Kelly as a threat-- he knew too much, and was known as an honest man of the utmost integrity-- he had to be silenced. He had informed the BBC that the misrepresentation by UK's Blair Government & the Bush Administration, of a possible attack by Saddam Hussein launching WMDs within 45 minutes, was false. UN Inspectors reported also that this deception used to lead us into War with Iraq was untrue.
Dr. Kelly was "set-up". Like many martyrs and whistle-blowers, come before him, his honesty cost him his life. Unused to being hounded and the glare of unjust humiliation by the UK's Ministry of Defense, he committed suicide.
The BBC's crime was in not protecting their source. They should never have publicly revealed that Dr. Kelly was their "mole". They should have stood by him to protect the freedom of the press, and others who might disclose government abuse and malpractice.
Someone in the British Government and Intelligence Services wanted Dr. Kelly to disappear. Why?
It is a well-known fact in British society, that MI6 are "spin-masters" and a fairy-tale factory, when called upon to justify government policy. There are also elements within the CIA who fabricate propaganda designed to divert our attention from the crimes that the US Government is committing against asset-rich nations. Our own WMDs programs must never become widely known to the public, otherwise men and women of conscience will ask questions and object. They can't allow the perpetual "money-making machine" funded by the good ole' American taxpayer, funding Corporations and Government research on Death, enriching Robber-barons, to stop running 24/7!
Bush, Cheney, Blair, Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, are thugs who are being protected by the MI6/CIA, so long as they keep funnelling billions to enrich the programs which will keep the Corporate "top-dogs" and "fat-cats" in control of the world's resources.
The Iraq Dossier was "spun" like cotton candy, and was blatantly false-- but the Corporate interests like British Petroleum, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc... wanted Iraqi Oil, and, by God, the MI6/CIA Special Effects Units worked over-time to produce the fantasies that would persuade us of phony dangers. Where are those Ex-Pentagon, Ex-Defense Secretaries, Ex-MI6/CIA Agents going to get their next cushy job, after they leave government?
Tragically, instead of doing their duty and protecting us, the Media has become infiltrated with MI6/CIA operatives. This is an old story, and was true during the VietNam era also. Reporters are sometimes MI6 or CIA agents in disguise in order to perform multiple duties in a foreign country under a credible cover.
The BBC should be held to account by the public for not protecting their sources, a fundamental principle upon which those willing to risk coming forward with the truth depend. That said, the truth of their accusation that Blair & Bush "sexed-up" a phony Iraq WMDs Dossier, still holds true:
"Remember, the BBC was not taking the safe route that so many news organizations prefer. Yet, time and again, they have been proved right with each new revelation of half-truths, outright lies and data manipulation on the part of the coalition's leaders-in-chief."
"As Paul Reynolds, a veteran BBC military affairs analyst, said of the British intelligence dossier cited as the source for Bush's now-repudiated claim about Iraq's nuclear program: "Of the nine main conclusions in the British government document 'Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction,' not one has been shown to be conclusively true."
"Blair last week told the U.S. Congress that he and Bush were right to invade Iraq even if no weapons of mass destruction are ever found. Left unmentioned is that it was the coalition that chased U.N. weapons inspectors out of Iraq, claiming they weren't doing their job and that the Iraq threat was growing. Clearly the immediacy of the threat from Hussein was a phony claim that Blair and Bush should have known full well was not backed up by any substantial evidence."
Refer to "The Witch Hunt Against the BBC", by Robert Scheer, on : http://www.latimes.com/news/o...,1,1384649.column?coll=la-news-comme nt-opinions
The Blair & Bush governments should be held accountable for lies and deceptions resulting in the deaths of innocents, at home and in Iraq. The MI6 & CIA should be reviewed and be held accountable to strong, independent oversight agencies.
"We the People" will see other innocent people who know too much, and could potentially expose this corrupt Bush administration thrown to the Wolves or [Wolf(owitzes)], too.
Bush's pre-war statements to America and the World, are exposing him as a serial liar. Blair is already seen to be a liar in Britain, where they don't worship their Political Leaders as Kings, the way we do.
Bush told lots of lies, not just one, in order to go to War with Iraq.
Example 1.
In an article entitled "Iraq link to terror judged not likely before Bush speech", Walter Pincus, Washington Post Monday, July 21, 2003, reports:
"Washington -- Last fall, the administration repeatedly warned in public of the danger that an unprovoked Iraqi President Saddam Hussein might give chemical or biological weapons to terrorists. "Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist or individual terrorists," President Bush said in Cincinnati on Oct. 7. "Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints."
But declassified portions of a still-secret National Intelligence Estimate released Friday by the White House show that at the time of the president's speech, the U.S. intelligence community judged that possibility to be unlikely.
In fact, the estimate, completed Oct. 2, shows the intelligence services were much more worried that Hussein might give weapons to al Qaeda terrorists if he were facing death or capture and his regime were collapsing after a military attack by the United States
"Saddam, if sufficiently desperate, might decide that only an organization such as al Qaeda, . . . already engaged in a life-or-death struggle against the United States, could perpetrate the type of terrorist attack that he would hope to conduct," said one key judgment of the estimate. It went on to say that Hussein might decide to take the "extreme step" of assisting al Qaeda in a terrorist attack against the United States if it "would be his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him." "
In other words, if attacked and provoked, Saddam Hussein might seek to establish links with his enemies in Al Qaeda, in order to defend himself. That's not what Bush said. Bush said prior to the war, that Saddam Hussein was in league with Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups-- this was a bold-faced lie.
Example 2.
On September 28, 2002, in a radio address to the American people that President Bush used to make the case for Congressional authorization of the use of force against Iraq, he said, "The danger to our country is grave and it is growing. The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is given."
A few days ago, Dr. David Kelly, an eminent scientist, reputable, and a gentle man, who had also served as a UN Inspector, committed suicide after being hounded by the Blair government, who wanted him to lie and cover-up the phony story about an attack that they accused Saddam Hussein of being able to launch against us in 45 minutes. Scientific experts knew this to be rubbish.
CIA agents are leaking information to the press as best they can, but are afraid of being hounded and worse by the corrupt Bush administration. How many more innocent lives will be destroyed by Bush, Blair, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz-- to cover-up their lies
Example 3.
"The failure to find WMD is also crucial to the credibility of the new US doctrine of pre-emption. There is nothing illogical, unethical or undesirable in hitting an enemy first whom you know is planning to hit you. That is no more than a form of self-defence. But that must be subject to two major considerations. First, it cannot be a right for the US alone. If it is valid it must be available to any member of the UN in comparable circumstances. That alone would make the world a very dangerous place.
Second, pre-emptive war could only be justified if, either before or after you launch it, you are able to produce credible evidence of the intention of the other state to attack you. In the case of Iraq there has been no evidence of an intention by Saddam to attack the US. The failure to find WMD suggests that nor was there any intention to launch an early attack against any of his neighbours. "
A statement by Sir Malcolm Rifkin, highly respected British defence secretary from 1992-95 and British foreign secretary from 1995-97.
Bush's statements that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to this country because he could launch an attack using WMDs, has proved the biggest lie of them all.
The facts are there... and those apologists who defend Bush against any criticisms on the basis of Clinton's sex scandals should ask themselves how severe the former's lies are, as they have involved thousands of deaths of Human Beings-- the latter's were unsavory and wrong, but did not involve our boys and girls dying under false pretenses.
Neither Nixon's Watergate scandal, nor Clinton's Lewinsky scandal, resulted in hundreds of deaths of our men & women in arms, nor that of thousands of innocent civilians.
"We the People" have an obligation to exercise sound judgment, as Bush didn't only deceive us about false reports using forged documents claiming Niger sold uranium to Iraq. Bush's lies extend to the very heart of his phony justification that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to us.
Emperor Bush's New Clothes have been exposed, and it's time to call Bush and his corrupt administration to account.
Bush has almost achieved his dastardly goal set out by the neo-con movement: creation of a 21st century neo-feudal state. Not only has he succeeded in destroying our credibility amongst respectable nations abroad, but he has instilled such fear in this country that our Media and Congress are permitting him to wield dictatorial powers outside the scope of his office as defined in the US Constitution.
We now are witness to the First American Emperor & Liege.
(Let's exclude Mad Joshua Norton, who declared "At the pre-emptory request of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last nine years and ten months past of San Fransisco, California, declare and proclaim myself the Emperor of These United States." on September 17, 1859 -- Check out http://www.zpub.com/sf/histor... ... Bush is probably Mad too, but tragically, in a position of power.)
"I'm the commander I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president." announced Bush. We should have seen this as a hint, a sign, of his imperious intentions. Bush actually means it!-- He doesn't read History, he isn't interested in History, and, he isn't going to be influenced by History.
On the world stage, Bush has succeeded in enacting policy that will prove the ruination of this country:
* Imperial wars abroad that are condemned by nations who believe in the rule of law. The war on Iraq was unconscionable, with men dying believing they were fighting a sovereign nation, in order to defend us against imminent threat of attack by Saddam Hussein using WMDs. This was a bold-face lie. Hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of innocent Iraqis died for ulterior motives-- power, oil grab, and fat contracts for Bush's paymasters.
Moreover, the Pentagon thugs have unilaterally claimed the right to sell-off Iraqi's assets. They are outsourcing contracts to Bush's buddies, instead of enabling the Iraqis to use their own assets as they see fit, and to identify firms which are able to give them the most competitive contracts advantageous to their country. Instead these rich contracts are the handsome booty for Bush & Cheney Aristocracy: Big Oil, Hallburton, Bechtel, etc.
* Military tribunal courts (ala Soviet show-trials) and prison camps set up to hold "enemies" indefinitely, have been installed by Bush/Cheney creating their neo-gulags to convict those labelled as "terrorists" or "enemy combattants" without having to show evidence of a crime. If Bush, Cheney & Ashcroft gleefully decide you are guilty, then you are guilty.
If the Emperor & Liege chooses to permit a detainee to be tried in a civilian court, it may be his whim that day, to permit it. (Bush may grant Blair a favour by sending home the British detainees who will be tried in a civilian court, since his performance in covering-up Bush's lies before the US Congress, was well received by a sycophantic audience. In "Old Europe", the quaint notion that one is innocent until proved guilty, endures to this day! Imagine that!)
Bush's new mantra: "It is My Wish-- So You are Granted a Favor by My Beneficence"
* Europe, China and Russia are all establishing their own strategies to enable them to stand against what has become the most dangerous Rogue Nation: US of A-- since Bush has decided than if you don't agree with his whims, you will be punished. The world is indeed afraid of terrorism: the terror of a hyper-power who treats others with contempt and bullies them into committing acts of aggression against those asset-rich countries which haven't threatened anyone.
Bush has squandered the good will of the world, who didn't always agree with us, but respected us. They don't anymore. They are fearful, and biding their time until they can build up their own military industrial power.
On the domestic front, Bush has set us on a road to fiscal bankruptcy:
* The 2003 deficit will surpass the $455 Billion, and result in taking our economy from a surplus when he entered office to a cumulative deficit of $1.9 Trillion by the end of 2004.
The low-income, middle-class and seniors on a fixed income, will bear the brunt of a falling dollar and the back-breaking debt. Bush could have avoided this by not pushing through a corrupt tax cut fot the Top 5% Wealthiest who are living the Belle Epoque.
Moreover, the unemployment rate is still rising at 6.4% with over 10 Million people looking for jobs. The Rich aren't investing in new jobs-- they're buying 1st class vacations to visit "Old Europe" this summer.
* Bush is dismantling environmental protections hard-fought for to ensure that our kids breath clean air; drink safe water; and, can enjoy some natural beauty that this country can offer. Bush and his rich cronies don't have to worry-- they've got massive palaces (Crawford Ranch), which are far from the madding pollution. (He hypocritcally criticizes Saddam Hussein for living in palaces while some Iraqis lived in poor conditions-- Wake up and look what the Royal He has done for his Rich Constitutents-- Visit his Crawford Ranch, and they go down to Brownsville, TX, folks!)
* Bush has done nothing substantive to help American People desperately in need of health care. Over 45 Million citizens are without health care coverage. Many are sick and unable to get help and elderly cannot afford their medicines.
This phony prescription drug plan that the US Congress is debating is a joke. If you're rich, you get another big boon-doggle from Congress-- but if you're barely making ends meet and pay between $2,001-$4,900 / year (House Bill) for drugs, you're in trouble! (This level of cost they exempt from any relief represents a lot of money for someone on a middle-class fixed retirement income.)
* Bush's "leave no child behind" is another of his failures:-- experts, teachers and counselors all see it as "window-dressing", with no substantive assistance provided to schools to enable them to educate our children. In many regions of this country, the classes are too large, schools suffer from a lack of books, tools & supplies, and the infrastructure is falling apart. Bush uses simple-minded mantras, but slashes money needed for real improvements to our educational system.
In fact, Bush doesn't want a well-educated populace... he wants a labour force, ignorant of history and civics, who will be pliant to the demogoguery and propaganda of the Corporate Masters who will profit off of a slave labour state here and abroad. Educated and enlightened minds are not fooled by Bush's & Cheney's chicanery.
These are but a few of the corrupt domestic policies by a callous, ignorant, corrupt regime, only interested in the welfare of their Corporate Robber-baron Constituents.
"We the People" better make use of our most powerful voice that permits us collectively to declare our dissatisfaction with the current corruption of our Republican values-- before the First American Emperor & Liege declares marshall law, and eradicates that sacred right: Let's Vote No to Empire in 2004!
Aside:
You should check out the following articles published today:
1. "Bush policy risks terminal strain in NATO" by William Pfaff, in International Herald Tribune online at : http://www.iht.com/articles/1...
Excerpt: This is a reluctant choice by the Europeans, but their perceptions of Washington has in the last two years changed dramatically. The United States is now seen in Europe as a threat to Europe's independence. The American side does not understand this.
Excerpt: America is now approaching the imperial overstretch toward which we have been lunging and stumbling since the Cold War. For 10 years, the "jodpurs-and-pith-helmets " jingo crowd at the little magazines has been beating the drum to drive us toward this cataract.
Now, we are there, the United States is facing what Walter Lippmann called "foreign-policy bankruptcy."
3. "An uncertain ending for Blair's role" by Peter Preston, in UK Guardian online at : http://www.guardian.co.uk/com...,3604,1002360,00.html
Excerpt: The war was a mistake, mum. A terrible, self-deluding, self-destructive mistake. It may be the kind of mistake you never recover from. Bush is sinking fast in the polls - a majority on the Zogby survey last weekend don't want him as president next time round. The bloody nightmare of attacks in Iraq goes on and on. Political truth and political consequences.
(Reuters) "Two U.S. soldiers were killed near Mosul in northern Iraq early Sunday in a rare attack by anti-American guerrillas in an area so far from Baghdad.
It brought to four the number of American deaths within 48 hours. That can only add to pressure on the United States as it tries to persuade reluctant United Nations allies who opposed its invasion to share the burden of running Iraq."
This brings the Bush/Cheney death toll to 273 Human Beings. You'll notice Karl Rove has persuaded a pliant Media to cite those killed in combat which is 151.
The Media is not showing the body bags coming home.
The Media is not showing the mourning fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, daughters and sons who will never see their loved one again.
The Media is not showing the many hundreds (over thousand) of our injured and maimed service men and women, who will never be the same, physically or emotionally.
We're being played like the proverbial fiddle. The statistics don't tell the real story. Please visit the web-site : http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2... where CNN has a list of the casualities. CNN provides a list of those American men and women killed, with their picture name, age, unit, hometown and, a brief sketch of how they died. Please visit this cite and look into the eyes of these people.
You won't see a Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay, or the neo-con court jesters loved-ones amongst the dead. None of them are fighting. None of them are at risk. The top 5% wealthiest Rich were awarded massive tax cuts under Bush, and, aren't asked to risk their kids lives. No wonder they are sending those $2000 checks to Bush/Cheney as fast as they can scribble their John Hancocks.
With all the parties this summer in Crawford, America's Hot Spots, and "Old Europe"-- one wouldn't want to cramp these rich folk's style and fun. Their kids are busy "doing Europe", "doing China", "doing Anywhere"-- but Not Iraq. It's the Belle Epoque for our oligarchy, while the rest of us are about to face the consequences of mounting debt and deaths of our loved-ones who believed in defending our country, but were betrayed by Bush/Cheney and the neocons ulterior motives (It's the Oil, Stupid!).
Those who died were more than statistics. Each one of these "collateral damaged" people all had dreams, loves, quirks, friends and families to whom they were attached. Each one of those injured or maimed will never be the same physically, emotionally or psychologically.
Ask yourself if you would want your loved ones to give their lives for cynical, phony, cooked-up pretexts. Would you give your life, not in order to protect your country (Iraq posed no threat)-- but to die in a country we aggressively invaded, who posed no threat to us.
Bush and Blair have been caught in a web of terrible lies and deceit. Now they are using emotional blackmail. They tell us the world is better off without Saddam Hussein-- so what? It would be better off without other tyrants too, but that isn't the point. Saddam Hussein didn't threaten us: Bush and Blair said he did. They lied to wage an illegal and immoral war, in which people died without being told the truth or the real motivations.
Karl Rove also has Bush, Blair, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and the neo-con media pundits hypnotizing us with their mind-numbing, repetitive drum-beating mantra, chanting: 9/11, 9/11, 9/11, 9/11, 9/11 .... over and over again, lest we challenge their crimes. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, however much Rove and the neo-cons wish it to be true.
The media pundits are diverting our attention away from the Bush/Cheney death toll by micro-analyzing the politics, and the ways-and-means these corrupt thugs will avoid being held accountable for killing our people and innocent Iraqis, in order to gain control of the oil-rich fields.
Meanwhile, buffoons like Pat Robertson, are asking people to pray for Supreme Court Justices who will overturn Roe vs Wade. Instead, maybe we should pray for leadership who won't murder our people in order to enrich Corporate "top-dogs" and "fat-cats" like Big Oil, Halliburton, and Bechtel-- all of whom are having the time of their lives. Where are all the pro-lifers, those who love life so much, now, huh?
"We the People" need to contact our Congress (http://www.congress.org) to demand an open-door investigation into the Bush/Cheney administration's illegal activities:
- Bush lackeys who arrogantly misled the world and created such havoc, including Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz need to be asked to resign as they are unfit for office, and investigated for criminal activities involving manipulation of intelligence information and coercing CIA agents and other government officials.
- Cheney needs to be called to account for those secret meetings with Big Oil & Big Corporations in the summer of 1991, when the American Energy Policy was set-up to enrich the few at the cost in lives and treasure of our people.
- Bush needs to be investigated for corruption, fraud and incompetence.
This group should spend next summer in San Quentin prison instead of the White House.
Bush said today that "the economy is headed in the right direction". For Whom?
With all the recent vain attempts by the neo-con court jesters to rehabilitate McCarthyism, and, label anyone a traitor, who doesn't Worship at the Altar of Capitalism, one wonders what ever happened to Robin Hood? Anyone who attempts to help those in need is demonized a "Traitor", "Socialist", "Commie", or worse-- also, those who demand social equity and fair taxation are accused of stealing from the rich to give to the poor-- hmmm... What ever happened to noblesse oblige?
"Robin Hood" was banned in some libraries and schools in the US, during the McCarthy era, because the idea of someone stealing from the rich and giving to the poor was seen as not only criminal, but worse, traitorous. Moreover, the Navajos facing starvation in the bitter winter of 1947-48 were denied government relief because their traditional way of life was considered to be communistic, and therefore, un-American.
The FBI investigated over 6.5 million citizens during the McCarthy era, when being called Un-American was equated with anyone who objected to the notion that the Robber-barons should be challenged and that labour had a right to unionize to demand minimum wage, safe working conditions, and decent working hours.
FDR's New Deal had "scared to death" the oligarchy, and they were desperate to ensure that any idea that all people ought to have a decent share in the fruits of this country, must be stomped out. The Corporate Robber-barons eradicated those who proposed discussion or debate, over a fair system of distribution of wealth, before the people could wise-up and determine they would not be exploited as slaves, and, accept the bare bones after the "top-dogs" and "fat-cats" gorged themselves silly.
Any economic model, other than the traditional Church of Capitalism, was destroyed, more effectively and efficiently, than Catholism in England, during the long, long Reformation.
Our economic reformation has been a struggle since the founding of this nation, and the rights won for workers was hard-fought for with payment in blood. The conflict between the investment classes and the working classes is old. Those who supported Communism saw that Capitalism in its pure form was detrimental to society-at-large, due to the massive wealth accumulated in the hands of a few, while many went without and suffered in miserable, sub-standard conditions. None of our rights were gifts from the Corporate Robber-barons-- our ancestors fought and in many cases died for these rights and we ought not give them up so passively.
Now we face the Bush/Cheney junta who are treading on our basic rights to negotiate and demand if necessary, a living wage, safe working conditions, over-time pay, clean environment to raise our children, and, regulations to ensure that pharmaceuticals and food are safe. They have promoted exporting jobs overseas where slave labour wages are paid to increase profits, and place workers here at home in a desperate position-- also having to accept unsafe standards and sub-poverty level wages.
Poverty and economic enslavement have been made respectable by stupid cant, such as: "If it's good for Business, then it's good for America". Tell that to the Enron employees and retirees who lost their jobs and pensions, while Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay, Fastow & Skilling, raped the corporate assets & pension funds, and are living the "high life" in Houston. Bush and Cheney have made sure their Corporate Paymaster's pockets are lined with gold, as services to aide people in need and the middle-class are slashed dramatically across the country.
Now, Bushy-boy is telling us that all is well economically although he gave massive tax cuts to the wealthiest 5%, and has run-up an obscene budget deficit in excess of $455 Billion for 2003. Cumulatively, Bush's irresponsibility will result in a deficit in excess of $1.2 Trillion by the end of 2004. Unemployment is still running at 6.4%, the highest in over 9 years, with 10 Million looking for jobs, and over 45 Million with no health coverage.
If this dismal economic picture isn't sufficient reason to vote in a New Administration with a modicum of decency and intelligence-- explain why. We've had enough of this Corporate President Bush and this corrupt, Corporate Administration. Like his close buddy, Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay, Bush tells the Big Lies and "takes the money and run".
Eminent economists like Dr. Paul Krugman (NY Times), the Financial Times (UK), and, even the Bush administration's budget projections don't paint the fairy-tale pictures, that Bush is flim-flamming. Perhaps, as the US Congress seemed hypnotized by Blair's bizarre, shallow rant to cover-up the WMDs debacle, Bush will ask Blair to give another speech (Bush needs others to do his job for him), when we devolve into a 21st Century Feudal System. Blair will passionately describe, using historical references to Jefferson and Lincoln, no doubt, mined out of Bartlett's Famous Quotations, on all the reasons why we should all be grateful to be made serfs paying homage to Big Oil, Halliburton, Bechtel, and the other Corporate Robber-barons.
Bush is conning us. We're being set-up to become modern-day slaves, with our children bearing the back-breaking and heart-breaking burden of debt. Meanwhile, Bush and his Cronies will be living in their palaces and enjoying their plush, 1st class vacations in "Old Europe", while the many wonder how they're going to put food on the table and pay for their kid's education.
"We the People" should wise-up and quickly, and oust this corrupt administration with it's tired, old repetitive pattern of "telling us what we want to hear" in diametric opposition to their actions, the truth, and objective reality.
Remember Groucho Marx's quip: "Who are you going to believe -- us or your own two eyes?", while you're singing to the tune of Simon and Garfunkle's Mrs. Robinson:
Where have you gone, Mr. Robin Hood? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. (Ooooo ooooo ooooo).
"Late last month the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that George W. Bush had told the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, that he had gone to war in Afghanistan and Iraq on instructions from God.", but when asked the White House denies it-- although Abbas claims it's true.
Blair passionately claims that every fiber of his being, "instinct and conviction" leaves him with no doubt that he and Bush were right to wage an illegal and immoral incursion into Iraq.
We're in trouble folks!
Bush and Blair are reminiscent of the fanatical zealots who lead their people on path to chaos and destruction-- because the objective reality of the world; judgment tempered by facts; and, a wise analysis and compromise: are all thrown by the wayside in favour of decisions based upon Passion.
The History of the 20th Century demonstrates the danger of such decision-making processes. We are witnessing the Passion of Tony Blair.
Tony Blair delivered a speech to the US Congress yesterday, that can only be described as fantastical, over-zealous, and illogical. His basic premise is that despite the fact that he & Bush lied to the American People, the British People, and the World-- and that Iraq did not in reality pose an "imminent threat of attack using WMDs", that was okay to kill hundreds of our Men & Women in the Military and thousands of innocent civilians, 'cause Saddam Hussein was a "bad guy", and Iraqis deserved freedom. (Oh, by the way, if that doesn't "work"-- repeat the mantra in your head over & over again: 9/11, 9/11, 9/11, 9/11 ...!)
The danger is that because Tony Blair speaks with all the emotion of a "Hell-and-Damnation" firebrand Preacher, and is more articulate than Bush (who isn't?)-- that his audience is mesmorized. Adolf Hitler had the same ability to persuade his audience with the same faith in every fiber of his being, the same instinct and conviction, that Jews were all evil and should be eliminated. Both of these men are wrong-- their very premises are misguided.
The British are very well aware that Blair lied, and you should refer to Robert Norton-Taylor's articles in the UK Guardian on-line (http://www.guardian.co.uk), if you want a real eye-opener, regarding Blair's abuse of MI6 (British CIA). The Brits are used to their MI6 telling fairy-tales, and Blair has lost credibility amongst the majority of British citizens. His own House of Commons (like our House of Reps.) hasn't let him "off the hook" so easily, and doesn't treat him like a King, they way we do Bush; hence, his relief and appreciation in addressing a sycophantic US Congress.
Blair is more clever and articulate than Bush (Who isn't? But Bush's real motives are based more on the profit-angle for his paymasters: Corporations like Halliburton, Bechtel, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Shell, etc., who are cashing in on the post-war booty). Blair cynically uses our great American Leaders to tell the American people: "See, unlike your bubble-headed Bush, I can quote Americana, so you should be "shocked and awed" into adoration by my "smooth-talking" flim-flam."
Blair cleverly misquotes Lincoln with a crocodile tear in his eye, stating: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not themselves". This is absurd, since we never denied Iraq or anyone else their freedom. The only Iraqis demanding war were crooks like Chalabi hoping he would also feed at the post-war trough, and was quite happy to let his promoters, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz run the show.
Blair employed tired-old clichés to lecture us about the universal values of the human spirit:
What about the universal values of the human spirit based upon the premise that our Leaders are accountable for telling us the truth? What about the universal values of the human spirit based upon the premise that our Leaders don't send us to die based upon Lies & Falsehoods? What about the universal values of the human spirit based upon the premise that our Leaders put the welfare of their people above their own selfish political interests?
Bush and Blair have treated their own citizens and the Iraqi people with contempt. They misled us into a War-- the most serious action a country can undertake: it's an act of aggression, when we were not threatened, based upon lies. 9/11 has cynically been exploited over-and-over again, although Iraq had nothing to do with it... perhaps if we invaded France, a link to 9/11 could be rapidly fabricated by the CIA/MI6 Special Effects Studios.
If we allow this contemptible "leadership" to prevail, then we are giving license to corruption and its' horrific consequences. Bush and Blair are panic-stricken, in their vain attempts to "spin" a retroactive justification to rationalize their "ends justify the means" decisions, but they should be stopped now for the sake of civilization.
Blair comically said History will forgive their action, even if no WMDs are found. This is outrageous. Just as God told Bush to go to War, perhaps Blair has a crystal ball at Number 10 Downing Street, where he sees into the future. Unless Big Oil British Petroleum writes history, the fact that thousands died based upon an insane "Pre-emptive" doctrine (i.e. a sexed-up term for invasion, incursion, aggression) will be condemned by enlightened minds.
"We the People" should not become "born-again" fanatics, based upon the flimsy, foolhardy Passion of Blair. Nor should we be seduced by the phony tough-talk, bombastic rhetoric of the simpled-minded Bush.
Today, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will be giving an address to a joint session of the US Congress-- the first by a Prime Minister, since Margaret Thatcher in 1985, and before that by Winston Churchill who delivered his speech to Congress, on December 26, 1941. Read Churchill's address on: http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1941/41122 6a.html" title="http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1941/41122 6a.html" target="_blank"http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/po...
Don't Buy Blair's Bull. It's a fabricated lie to save Bush's Butt.
The Bush administration knowingly lied about an "imminent threat" of attack by Iraq using WMDs. They also lied about how "easy" the entire process would be-- our boys & girls are dying almost daily, costs have skyrocketed from the $2 Billion to $4 Billion, and, now the US Military is calling it a "guerilla war".
Meanwhile, the corrupt Bush administration simply sloughs it off, with Rumsfeld blithefully remarking that many more of our military men and women will die this summer. No wonder, a US Soldier over there now, said if he met Rummy, he'd ask him to resign. Any thinking person with a modicum of ethics and principles calls for Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Rice to step down, as they have betrayed this country and are unfit to serve in public office.
Bush Inc. should be tried for misleading the Americans into an illegal & immoral war; impeached & removed from office.
Unlike Bush, Blair is articulate... It will be tempting to believe him because he speaks with the lovely British accent, and oh so smoothly. But beware-- If the truth beknown-- both He & Bush would be ousted from office. Don't fall for his flim/flam: he's simply a better liar than Bush.
In the UK Guardian Richard Norton-Taylor wrote: “MI6, we now know, included the phrase "there is intelligence that Iraq has sought the supply of significant quantities of uranium from Africa". When the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency discovered the claim was based on forged documents, Jack Straw insisted that MI6 had "separate" sources to back up the claim. Yet he was honest enough to tell the Commons in early June that, "until we investigate properly," ministers will not be in a position to say whether that intelligence was "correct". “
Richard Reeves observed today "After Watergate, Sissela Bok wrote a book called "Lying" in which she argued that there were three common excuses for misleading, for lying: (1) I never meant that. I was joking; (2) I was the one misled. I didn't know it was untrue; (3) I had to lie because I was serving a higher cause. There are, I think, a couple of others now. No. 4 might be, "Everybody does it." Worst of all, No. 5 might be, "No one cares." On the Bok scale, the Bush White House, tangled in a web of war justification, would like its now-inoperative prewar rhetoric to be judged as No. 2 rather than the trickier No. 3. The CIA did it!"
The CIA Director Tenet hoisted himself on his own batard, but that's a transparent scapegoating that didn't work too well-- so now Bush/Cheney are betraying Blair-- and asking him to take responsibility: It isn't convincing...
It simply isn't credible that the lies Bush told us all, are now being covered up by MI6 (British intell-) who say they will not release the information for the CIA to vet; regarding the infamous uranium sales by Africa to Iraq-- How Convenient... What BULL.
"We the People" had better be critical in our analysis; and ethical in our assessments-- and, we should demand a full-blown open-door investigation of Bush/Cheney. Call for our Congressmen and women to investigate this administration-- you can do so on: http://www.congress.org.
We cannot permit this arrogant bunch to destroy this country by economic rape here at home; and, insane "pre-emptive" wars abroad-- both of which enrich their Puppet-masters: Big Oil, Corporate Interests like Halliburton, Enron & Bechtel, etc, while impoverishing the rest of us.
A dangerous cultural phenomena is taking hold in this country, not dissimilar to the social environment in Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s: It is the belief in cartoon characters of history, drawn as saint-like heroes or demonic mad-man. Neither is true.
The sign of reaching maturity is recognizing that the world is complex, replete with nuance, beautiful and dangerous. An adult learns how to assume responsibility for his/her own philosophy and actions. One must abandon the childish notions of Santa Claus, Mom & Dad as omnipotent, and fairy tale characters.
It is hard to let go of Hero/Devil fantasies, because one must acknowledge that absolute security doesn't exist, others might be dangerous and not so easy to spot. The history of the world is littered with examples of leaders who fool people, or who articulate good motives but create havoc.
It's easier to believe that we can spot a "good guy" 'cause he wears a "white hat", and the "bad guy" 'cause he wears a "black hat" (or speaks with a foreign accent? ... sic). Life is rarely that straight-forward, which is really what our young people should learn to be competent citizens.
Unfortunately, the media pundits are cashing in, and what's worse, encouraging American adults to indulge in fantasies, that are very destructive to our own national psyche and our decision-making capabilities.
One example of this recent phenomena is Ann Coulter's clownish attempt at re-writing history to paint "Tailgunner Joe", Senator Joe McCarthy, as a "hero" whose only crime was to be a loyal American trying to rid the country of Spies and Traitors attempting to destroy the USA. According to Coulter, the real "Traitors" are those on the political left, who maligned an honorable man and great patriot. This is a mis-representation of history.
Coulter's book is not a work of serious history. It is a propagandist screed, with the vain hope of "killing two birds with one stone": (1) rehabilitating McCarthyism, and (2) character assassinating those with political views differing from her own. John Ashcroft must be delighted!
Perhaps the one benefit to be derived from the media frenzy surrounding her pop-history-babble, would be if a national debate commenced, regarding the quality of history taught to our young people. On that score, we all would probably agree that it's atrocious. But Coulter, a political court jester of the neo-cons, isn't in the same league as the great historians available at your local bookstore, like John Keegan on the 20th centuries World Wars.
Adolf Hitler gained wide-spread popularity in the early 1930s Germany, as a result of the poverty and unemployment which occurred from the back-breaking WW1 reparations paid to France and England. His appeal for national pride, jobs, and, prosperity attracted a lot of Germans to vote for his party. Moreover, the fact that the other political parties were in disarray, and debating on issues not central to German's concerns contributed to his popularity. The crimes committed by Hitler were abominable, but he succeeded because he appealed to his people's fears. Read Ian Kershaw's excellent book: "Hitler 1889-1934 Hubris" for a well-researched account of that period of history.
Senator Joe McCarthy did attempt, in the aftermath of WW2, to seek out those who were spying on behalf of the USSR. In his zeal, however, McCarthy went too far, and his paranoia led him to persecute those Americans who had joined the Communist Party in the late 1920s and 1930s when our country was facing a Great Depression, in which massive unemployment, poverty and misery were the lott of most people-- while the Robber-barons and oligarchy were living in the lap of luxury and great wealth. It's was a Belle Epoque for those with money and power, but for most people, life was hard and miserable.
McCarthy sought out to prosecute anyone who had joined the Communist Party-- many of whom were not spies, were not traitors, and were loyal Americans. They simply didn't believe that Capitalism worked to the benefit of society, because they had seen the destructive impact that the greed of the few at the top, had on so many innocent lives.
Those who question the benefits and the liabilities of Capitalism in it's pure form are not "Traitors"-- the Founding Fathers didn't state that Capitalism is to be imposed upon our country. Just as the "freedom" to enslave blacks was rightfully struck down, some day the "freedom" to enslave "We the People" based upon economic class will be struck down. Slavery is wrong, whatever it's pernicious forms may take, as according to our Declaration of Independence, this country was founded on the basis that our citizens have the right to Freedom, Liberty and and the Pursuit of Happiness.
In a desperate attempt to "sell" the Hero McCarthy myth, the right cites Joseph Kennedy, John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, as supporters of Sen. McCarthy. Is this such a surprise? Many Democrats supported President Bush in his incursion into Iraq, because he stated that the USA was in danger of "imminent attack" by Hussein who had massive stockpiles of WMDs?
It is not abnormal to support someone if their rationale and objectives appear reasonable. However, once we see the wrong-headedness or destructiveness of a policy, we shouldn't blindly adhere to it out of mis-placed pride or feigned ignorance. (Remember Vietnam?) Or, if we are lied to, those responsible should be held to account.
In the aftermath of "ends justifying the means", whereby innocent lives are destroyed based upon distortions and lies, by zealots, who become blinded by a fanatical faith in their own ideologies, irrespective of contradictory evidence-- we should look back and ask the question: What went wrong?
The judgment of serious history is that Senator Joseph McCarthy, went too far, subverted justice, and abused his powers of office. He may have had started out with reasonable motives, but as the history of the 20th century has demonstrated in a series of horrific bloody tragedies for millions:-- motives, good or bad, can blind men to commit horrific crimes. McCarthy destroyed the lives of many innocent people, and serious historians will not forget. Neither should we.
"Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. ... Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?", a famous response from Joseph Welch, as Army counsel from the Boston firm of Hale and Dorr, addressing Senator Joseph McCarthy, June 9, 1954, in the Army-McCarthy hearings in Congress. He might have said the same thing to Ms. Coulter.
Serious historians like the eminent Barbara W. Tuchman, wrote works that should be read today because they explore the complexity, nuance and multi-dimensions of history. Read her excellent historial works, such as "The Proud Tower", and "The March of Folly" which describes the disasters of unnecessary wars, despite feasible alternatives.
America is facing a real crisis today, a crisis of perception. This results in a lack of leaders who understand history and are concerned about the welfare of all of our citizens. We deperately need leaders with the vision to look beyond their own selfish interests. Moreover, blind ideologues, not unlike the tyrannical Hitler, or the demagogue McCarthy, have assumed control of our governemnt. This led us into a immoral and illegal incursion into Iraq, condemned by most respectable nations across the globe, and a looming recession, with skyrocketing debt and unemployment here at home.
We don't have the time or luxury to indulge in the pop-history-babble based upon fanatical ideologies. We have an obligation to spend our time wisely, reading serious history, by credible historians who do proper research, and attempt to write an accurate account. As Ms. Tuchman said in her introduction "It is not the book I intended to write when I began. Preconceptions dropped off one by one as I investigated. The period was not a Golden Age or Belle Epoque except to a thin crust of the privileged class". Ms. Coulter is no Barbara W. Tuchman.
It's time for "We the People" to cast off our childish whims-- we have no right as the major superpower to harm so many human beings at home and abroad, on the basis of believing in Cartoon Characters. It is this childish, self-deluding belief which enables corrupt leaders to wage war on false pretexts, and harm our own citizens and innocents abroad, before our very eyes.
The honeymoon between the White House and the Media may finally be over. Let's hope so. It wasn't a marriage that ever should have taken place, in a free society, that must retain an adversarial relationship, in order to keep everybody honest.
It is clear that the Bush/Cheney junta's gestapo-style tactics, which worked so well, to-date, intimidating the Media and Congress into cowering in a fetal position, is slowly but surely losing its magic to scare us into shutting-up.
Rumsfeld and Rice have been "shocked-and-awed" that their deceptions, lies and bizarre statements are being subject to analysis.
In today's World Net Daily Exclusive, by Paul Sperry, entitled "Rumsfeld corrects testimony - twice". Refer to: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/...
Last week, Rumsfeld swore before Congress that he had only learned a few days beforehand about the bogus information used by Bush in his 2003 State of the Union Speech. Today in a clumsy attempt to tap dance, he said he knew the President had misled Americans as early as March, two months following Bush's speech. We still don't know the truth. As usual, the arrogant Rumsfeld got testy with reporters asking him questions, and hopes his "attitude" will silence them.
Rice continues to fumble, in a vain attempt to say that it isn't important that Bush lied-- it is necessary that she comes up with rationalizations because it is her responsibility to vett Bush's speeches. She is relying on dubious British Intelligence, that even her counterparts in the UK have had to admit is not validated.
Both Rumsfeld and Rice should be asked to step-down. Their loyalty to the Bush/Cheney junta is misplaced, and their disloyalty to America and the truth is reprehensible.
Are you ready for the most bizarre, outlandish, and non-sensical word-spinning? It comes from President Bush himself, who prides himself on being a "straight" shooter, but instead stupidly "shoots" himself in the foot. Yesterday, he publicly lied... outright lied:
--"The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region. "--
Let's parse Bush's statement (harder than Clinton's "the meaning of the word is, is"):
1. "The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program?"
Not true, Mr. Bush. You didn't state that Hussein did have a weapons program, leading up to your incursion into Iraq. You stated "Hussein has a weapons program posing an imminent threat to the USA".
In fact, no massive weapons program exists (as none were found), and they posed no imminent threat.
2. "And the answer is, absolutely."
Not true, Mr. Bush. Where is it? You can't say he has one, when it doesn't exist. Neither UN Inspectors, nor our military have found any. The fact that Iraq had some weapons in 1990, prior to a large-scale destruction by UN Weapons Inspectors during that period-- isn't relevant to today's timeline.
3. "And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. "
Huh? Is Bush asleep, stupid or does he think our memory doesn't extend beyond today? Saddam Hussein did indeed let UN Inspectors in... The entire world, the UN and Hans Blix begged us to let the inspections continue. Iraq's government was co-operating more and more each day. It was the Bush/Cheney junta who got nervous, that if Blix couldn't find WMDs, then his War for Oil wouldn't be allowed.
4. "And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region."
What reasonable request, Mr. Bush? You demonized the UN Inspectors; dissed the UN; and, character assassinated any country (or leader here at home), who suggested that the UN Inspections should be allowed to continue. While the UN Inspectors were in Iraq-- they could pose no threat to anyone.
Moreover, only the British, Australia & Poland provided any substantive assistance (and far, far less than Bush committed the USA to in lives and hard-earned taxpayer dollars).
Over 170 nations out of 191 at the UN condemned our unilateral "take-it-or-leave-it" "Pre-emptive" incursion into a country which hadn't even threatened us. The "coalition of the willing" was a joke all around the world.
Bush's statement simply doesn't stand-up to scrutiny.
Are the Bush/Cheney thugs all on drugs? They seem to think that using intimidation tactics, cant, lies, deceptions and/or anger, will silence us.
Bush may have to go back and brush-up on a little US History. He seems to have forgotten that "We the People" select our Servants in the White House every four years, or by impeachment & removal from office in the event of a criminal act in violation of his oath of office.
Birds of a Feather Flock Together ... Like Vultures
The old proverb that "Birds of a Feather Flock Together", is coming home to roost for America ... Sadly, these "birds" are vultures feeding off the carcass of our hard labours.
Bush/Cheney claimed they would be the Corporate President and administration. They sure are: like Enron: plundering the treasures of our people, this country and the world. One could be forgiven for seeing an eerie similarity between Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz, with Bush's best Texan buddy, Kenny-boy Lay, and his associates-in-crime, Fastow & Skilling, of Enron. Not only is the comparison apt in their rape and bankrupting of those who depend upon them to act rightly, but also in their arrogance, deceit and, the cover-up of their crimes.
Unfortunately, to-date all of these crooks are at large and living the "high-life" at the expense and misery of those whom they looted, here at home and abroad.
Today, we discover that the Bush/Cheney administration has already run up a budget deficit for 2003, in excess of $455 Billion dollars. This represents over 22% of our annual budget! In the days when Corporate America was accountable to ethics standards, and highly regulated accounting practices with meaningful audit procedures, the Bush/Cheney CEOs would have been charged with malfeasance and probably fraud, for perpetrating such inept, corrupt fiscal mis-management. Nowadays, they simply "take the money and run".
This excessive deficit spending run amok, is over 50% greater than the Bush/Cheney spin-masters estimated in February. But like their "mis-estimates" on WMDs; using "intelligence" data; "victory" in Iraq and Afghanistan-- their modus operandi is to tell us what we want to here, while scamming us and laughing all the way to the bank.
Remember this:-- You, your children and grand-children will be forced to pay the "lone-shark" interest payments, while Bush/Cheney Inc. and their Corporate Robber-barons enjoy the fruits of your back-breaking and heart-breaking misery. You will see reduced services needed to live decently, increasing unemployment, poverty and misery.
Dr. Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University, editorialist for the New York Times, has warned us over-and-over again to beware of this spend-thrift administration-- Sadly, he has been ignorned by the voters-at-large, because the American people have allowed themselves to be intimidated by Bush/Cheney Inc.
This corrupt administration cons us with their "shock-and-awe" terrorism tactics, scaring us to death, while they pull their "bait and switch" and give obscene tax cuts to the Richest-of-the-Rich top 5%.
Bush inherited a surplus from Clinton, and proceeded to recklessly spend on programmes for his Corporate Paymasters. By the end of 2004, Bush's excessive spending will cost us over an estimated $1.2 Trillion in cumulative deficits. This astounding rise in deficit spending during Bush's reign also increases our National Debt. The low income and average Americans will bear the brunt of paying off these deficits and debts-- not the wealthy "top-dogs" and "fat-cats".
There is no end in sight of the pending doom of a spiraling recession if these Bush/Cheney crooks are allowed to continue to abuse the powers of their offices. Check out the figures from the Government Accounting Office on: http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbu...
One factor contributing to this massive deficit and debt, is the rising cost of our involvement in Iraq-- something Bush has avoided being "straight" on, although called-upon by Republicans and Democrats alike to "level" with the American People. At the outset of the war on Iraq, the administration estimated an approximate cost of $1 Billion per month. When all didn't go as well as Bush Inc. hoped, a figure of $2 Billion per month was leaked. Last week, the staggering cost of $3.9 Billion per month was released! For what purpose? Iraq posed no imminent threat to us... no WMDs... just lies for oil. An extravagant monthly cost to be borne and paid for by hard-working people so that Halliburton, Bechtel & Big Oil Barons are happy.
Hard times are ahead for those of us, who aren't in the top 5% and well-connected to Bush/Cheney Inc. A major part of the problem is that Corporate Robber-barons finance the political crooks purchased to protect their interests at the expense of the working people of America. Stringent Campaign Finance Reform is required to put back into all branches of government, ethical representatives who are concerned about the welfare of all people in this country, not just the oligarchy.
"We the People" should demand now, that the insane tax cuts be re-called; campaign finance reform be passed; and, that Bush/Cheney Inc. be held accountable for their deceptions and lies-- before they succeed in turning this country into a modern day slave state.
Thinking people able to "connect the dots" and analyze the "data points", must conclude we were lied to and duped by the Bush/Cheney junta.
Intelligence agencies in America and Britain are being blamed for "sexing-up" their dossiers. Spin doctors are working over-time to "educate" us as to the unreliability of "intelligence data".
This is simply spin. Intelligence agencies comprise people who follow their leadership, like any other group of folks. Most folks simply want to "get along", earn a good living, and don't want to sacrifice their lives on the "altar of ethics" as those poor whistle-blowers and martyrs of the past, now long forgotten.
The fact is that the CIA and MI6 (British Intelligence) both spun fairy tales, because Bush and Blair Executive branches of government, desperately wanted to invade Iraq, and pressured them to do so. Most professionals will act in accordance with the ethics and standards, established by their leaders. In this case, ethics were subordinated to corrupt warmongering agendas, and standards were "whatever-it-takes" to achieve their "ends".
Why? Ask the paymasters of puppets like Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz: Big Oil & Big Business (Chevron, Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Carlyle Group, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc etc etc). Ask the paymasters of poodles like Blair & Straw (British Petroleum etc etc etc)
These Corporate Robber-barons meet-up at Bilderberg conferences on an annual basis, with the objective of obtaining control of the world's most precious resources, and by God, they chose the right puppets in the Bush/Blair zealots to carry-out their corrupt agenda.
Today, Richard Norton-Taylor published in the UK Guardian (http://www.http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,9 98213,00.html), an article entitled "Tell us the truth about the dossier", a fascinating excerpt:
-- "MI6, we now know, included the phrase "there is intelligence that Iraq has sought the supply of significant quantities of uranium from Africa". When the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency discovered the claim was based on forged documents, Jack Straw insisted that MI6 had "separate" sources to back up the claim. Yet he was honest enough to tell the Commons in early June that, "until we investigate properly," ministers will not be in a position to say whether that intelligence was "correct". "--
In other words, the desperate, bumbling rationalization by the pathetic Rice & Rumsfeld, using British Intelligence to cover for Bush/Cheney deceptions, is more obfuscation.
Bush and Blair are linked by an umbilical cord-- It's easier to get MI6 to pretend there is "top, top, top secret" data. To survive, these guys will hang together. The fact that the CIA isn't privy to such "intelligence" and consequently, can't validate it's validity, is simply being brushed-off or ignored.
It's time for "We the People" to recognize that we've been conned. The Corporate Robber-barons are already looking around for better flim-flam men/women in case the current jokers running the USA & Britain are unmasked. It is the job of our Congress and the Media to seek the truth-- and for us to insist they do so.
What was it the founding fathers said about "eternal vigilance"?
Why is Bush saying that the US will commit troops to Liberia?
According to the US Constitution, the Congress must approve or reject, sending our troops into dangerous adventures abroad (i.e. Declarations of War). In light of the recent false pretexts for the war on Iraq, Congress' involvement in risking lives and treasure is crucial. Today, when questioned about phony "intelligence", Bush absurdly remarks that the intelligence he receives is "darn good" ... ha ha ha ... It most certainly is not "darn good" (unless Bush was informed the stuff was phony, and chose to lie in his zeal to wage war)! Where are those WMDs? Where is Saddam Hussein? Where is Iraq's nuclear program? What was the imminent threat?
The Bush/Cheney administration is using intimidation tactics to stop public discourse and scare both Congress and the Media into cowering and "shutting up", whenever they pose questions Bush doesn't like. The Bush administration is covering-up their deceptions, and, also are silencing those who care about truth. This is a frightening trend and must be stopped immediately.
Obviously, Congress is abdicating its responsibility to undertake its proper constitutional role (using illegal past precedents like a "turkey blind"). It is absolutely outrageous to allow this corrupt President Bush to continue to carry out his horrific, dangerous policies. The Bush/Cheney junta have a track record of both: (1) outright falsehoods told to carry-out his immoral War Aggressions on behalf of Corporate Robbers, and, (2) a domestic deficit spending-spree (beyond the wildest dreams of the Emperors of Ancient Rome or Saddam Hussein) for the sake of his greedy Corporate Cronies. Recent welfare programs (Tax Cuts for the top 5% wealthiest at a time of War and a Recession) for the Richest of the Rich, is criminal. Both Bush's insane foreign and domestic policies are causing significant harm and misery to average and lower income Americans, and to innocent people abroad persecuted by Bush's Strong-Arm, Bully-Boy tactics.
Bush Inc. cannot be allowed to continue to run amok, without our system of "checks-and-balances", being re-instituted, in order to restrain him. Therefore, Congress has an obligation to the people of this country to put itself down on record formally, rather than run-scared, allowing Bush to continue to behave as an Imperial-style Dictator.
There has been no explanation by King George Bush II, as to the justification for any incursion into Liberia, no plan, no cost, no risk assessment, no exit strategy: nothing: zip, zero, nada. Instead, he simply states He (the royal "I") will commit troops. This is unacceptable!
"We the People" should call for Congress to do their duty, and properly debate before the public, and register their vote for or against, Bush's inept and immoral incursions into other countries (e.g. Liberia), designed to cynically divert our attention away from his Corporate-administration' s crimes, while his Corporate Crooks and Paymasters continue to enrich themselves off of the blood of our boys and girls in the military, innocent civilians abroad, and the majority of American people who aren't rich and well-connected to Bush Inc.
Today, another American is killed in Iraq and six more injured in attacks by those who don't want us there. This, in the aftermath of Rumsfeld and Rice making the rounds of the Sunday morning talk shows in a vain, clumsy attempt to, at best, minimize, at worst, cover-up Bush's lies to America and the entire World that resulted in an unnecessary, illegal and immoral war. (Blithefully, Rumsfeld said lots more Americans will die this summer. Not Rumsfeld's kids or chums-- no, they'll be basking in the sun in "Old Europe", drinking their champagne cocktails.) An investigative committee should be established to determine the extent to which crimes were committed by this corrupt administration.
There is also a question of character. Bush is a swaggering, tough-talking, bully-boy. He is also a coward who lacks character.
Bush is gutsy when it comes to sending others to die, but when called upon himself, he joined a "champagne brigade" reserve unit during Vietnam (and was even AWOL from that unit-- he didn't show up!). He swaggers in front of the troops, without even knowing (or having the imagination to wonder) what they will face in battle.
Bush talks tough, when others are at risk-- but uses henchmen like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Fleischer, when he is faced with trouble. Instead of assuming responsibility for his own 2003 State of the Union Speech, he gets the pathetic Tenet to do so. Isn't it "odd" that the CIA had warned the Vice-President's Office, Defense Department, National Security Advisor, and the State Department, that "intelligence" was bogus over 10 months prior to Bush using it in his speech.
Instead of working with other nations on issues of global importance (e.g. Kyoto treaty, Anti-ballistic missile treaty, UN Inspections of Iraq), he bullies them-- later to "pay them off" to gain their friendship using taxpayer dollars. Bush isn't interested in any spending to improve the lives of American people-- oh no, but he spends like a drunken, corrupt CEO, lavishing hard-earned taxpayer dollars to bribe others and buy friendship abroad.
There may be precedents in history for other Presidents misleading the American people. A recent article by Pat Buchanan, entitled "Naked Forgery" (http://www.wnd.com/news/artic...), cites FDR's abuse of intelligence to lead us into WW2. That's where any comparison between Bush and FDR stops cold.
FDR was called a "traitor to his class" by the oligarchy, who were angry with his New Deal policies putting Americans back to work, and increasing the opportunities for people to live decently.
Bush will never be considered anything but a "hero to his class" of rich folks, whom he has awarded obscenely lavish tax cuts, while cutting services for those in need here at home. Moreover, Bush has let the Corporate Robber-barons run rough-shod over America and the World, triggering the start of the 21st Century Feudal System. Unemployment is at its highest in over 9 years, with over 10 million Americans seeking jobs. Poverty rates have skyrocketed, while the rich have gotten much, much richer; and our annual deficit and National Debt are highest in our nation's history.
Bush's lies have resulted in deaths. Ari Fleischer may call any inquiry into Bush's corruption a "media frenzy" and "a bunch of bull". One might be forgiven for wondering if investigating a public figure over his/her private sex life is inappropriate. To dismiss so wantonly a war in which men and women are dying daily, and being injured, based upon lies? It is indeed, the job, the very raison d'etre of the Media and Congress to pursue the Bush administration, and find out the extent of the lying and those responsible.
It's also a question of character. "We the People" have seen that this President Bush's character is corrupt, cowardly and shallow.
Instead of funding the "War on Terrorism" to [u]protect [/u]American lives, the Bush/Cheney junta invested in an unnecessary "Pre-emptive" War on Iraq, [u]killing[/u] American lives, and thousands of innocent Iraqis. We now know that their pretext of WMDs posing an imminent threat to America, was based upon old, out-dated "intelligence" questioned by our own CIA. The Bush administration lied.
On today's Sunday talk-shows, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, did their best to obfuscate, spin and re-write history-- but to no avail. Even the "dumbest-of-the-dumb" who paid even a modicum of attention could see through their mis-information.
In Condi Rice's case, her ability to lie with the utmost grace is a wonder. The investment in her education was well-spent, unlike the wide-eyed, bumbling Bush's; as she has turned out the most articulate liar of the bunch. Yet, if her statements today are analyzed logically, then they simply don't stand up to scrutiny (i.e. if one bothers to "connect-the-dots", rather than be "shocked-and-awed" by her "fast talk"). On "Face the Nation", she stated that:
1. The intelligence in 1991 showed that Saddam Hussein had acquired massive quantities of WMDs.
Sorry, Ms. Rice-- but that was over 12 years ago. The UN Inspectors destroyed large quantitied of Iraqi WMDs in their 1990s inspection process. Moreover, none have as yet to be found-- so the intelligence was wrong, and tragically other world governments who advised us to let the UN Inspectors do their job were ignored.
2. Saddam Hussein had intended to build a nuclear arsenal.
Sorry, Ms. Rice-- but "intention" and "capability" are two different things. To build a nuclear arsenal is not at all comparable to developing biological and chemical weaponry-- Nuclear weapons development requires massive facilities, which are not easily transported. Furthermore, the UN Inspectors said that there was no evidence Saddam Hussein "had" re-instituted the nuclear weapons programme, and no nuclear capability was uncovered.
3. President Bush's speeches are vetted to ensure that information is accurate.
Apparently not, Ms. Rice-- in your zeal, neither you, nor Cheney, nor Rumsfeld advised the Bush (maybe you did and are lying to protect this bumbling President-- who lusted for war on Iraq to gain control of oil), even though "underlings" in your respective organizations knew information is suspect. This renders the three of you incompetent, liars or both.
4. "We the People" are making too much of "just one sentence". (Ms. Rices' bloopers are funnier/scarier than Mr. Bushs'-- like her not associating with anyone in the "bowels" of her organisation, because they don't move in her "circles"... huh?)
Outrageous, Ms. Rice-- since "just one sentence" which frightened the American people into thinking that Saddam Hussein was on the verge, or had obtained, nuclear weapons, is a very [u]important sentence. [/u] If you studied the great speeches of history, just one sentence like "We're going to war" is a simple phrase containing only 4 words-- but it sure is critical, and not to be spinned as unimportant. Contrast that sentence with another 4 word sentence like "We'll not wage war."-- One sentence makes all the difference.
5. She did not answer the question as to whom in the administration insisted that the false, phony lies be inserted into Bush's 2003 State of the Union address-- when both Powell & Negroponte refused to use that "shit (sic-- Powell's word)". She skirted around the issue, very cleverly-- but she still didn't answer the question.
It it clear, Ms. Rice, that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and yourself colluded to mis-lead the American people, thinking that if you "won", that Americans wouldn't be concerned that about the lie. Perhaps, Ms. Rice: you and Bush should spend less time watching football games, and take a refresher course in Ethics in Government 101.
In Rumsfeld's case, he was squirming, squinting and smirking-- as he usually does when intimidating his interviewers. On "Meet the Press", Rumsfeld told some "tall tales" too (obviously, Rove had Rummy & Rice "singing off the same song-sheet"), and stated that:
1. "I don't know if we'll find the WMDs" ...
Oooooppppsss, Mr. Rumsfeld, particularly when you said specifically that "I know where those WMDs are in Iraq". Upon being asked to comment upon that quote, Rumsfeld responded that it is possible to know today-- but not tomorrow.
Sorry, Mr. Rumsfeld, but tons of chemical & biological weaponry cannot be moved around without detection, using satellite photos. Moreover, with UN Inspectors on the ground-- they could not have been hidden before their very eyes.
2. It takes time to find WMDs.
Hmmm.... wasn't that exactly what Mr. Hans Blix said, who was demonized by the Bush administration, who pressured him, attacked him and character assassinated him. Ms. Rice even visited Mr. Blix before Powell's pathetic "presentation" to the UN, and tried to lean on him to lie. The Bush/Cheney junta seemed surprised that not everyone will prostitute themselves for power and money (someone might want to remind Tenet of that fact).
Now you are asking for patience in finding the WMDs, while having violently condemned Mr. Hans Blix for suggesting it takes time, prior to your war.
3. Intelligence changes over time ... and that information which is [u]both[/u] known and unknown should be made clear... (although the Bush/Cheney junta "spin" about Saddam Hussein didn't change over time... !)
Outrageous, Mr. Rumsfeld, as intelligence information upon which one launches a war should be solid & consistent. Furthermore, since the UN Inspectors were there, Saddam Hussein posed no threat to anyone.
However, historically, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz, who were advised that the intelligence was "shoddy", "unreliable", and in some cases, downright "phony"-- didn't share that part of their intelligence with the public.
4. We got rid of Saddam Hussein and that Iraq & the Middle-East will be better off.
Obfuscation, Mr. Rumsfeld, since that was not the reason given for waging an illegal & immoral incursion into Iraq. You are attempting to "spin" a retroactive rationalization, in a vain attempt to silence those who value truth.
By the way, Mr. Rumsfeld, where is Mr. Hussein & sons?
5. Cheney mis-spoke (or made a mistake) in his sales pitch prior to the war, stating publicly on "Meet the Press", that Saddam Hussein already had re-constituted nuclear weapons.
You expect us to believe such nonsense. If so, why didn't Cheney issue a retraction the next day? Come, on, "We the People" are easily led; aren't brilliant; don't read much-- but we're not so easily conned!
By the way, Mr. Rumsfeld, you said today that the war was continuing and that more Americans will die this summer ... What was Bush's bombastic victory dance on the US Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier on May 1st, declaring the war was over and "Mission Accomplished!" about, huh? I suggest you take a course in Tap Dancing, Mr. Rumsfeld.
"Just one sentence"... hmmm ... it seems that there are "many, many sentences" from Bush Inc. that are lies ...
These and other obfuscations are outrageous, and an inquiry into intelligence failures at the top of the administration should commence immediately. "We the People" deserve to know: Who put those statements into Bush's speech? What did Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz (the lead architects of their war for oil) know prior to the war? What did Bush know and when did he know it? Why is British Intelligence (whom are the masters of spinning fairy tales) which wasn't even shared with the CIA, being relied-upon to save the Bush/Cheney junta from being indicted for crimes against "We the People"?
It is criminal that the Bush/Cheney junta have enjoyed "the time of their lives" playing "war games" with real lives, based upon their blatant lies (e.g. Cheney & Rice described "mushroom" clouds killing millions of Americans, which could happen any day, since "Saddam Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear weapons programme", and they repeated this mantra over-and-over again in a never-ending drum-beat, to whip up a frenzy of support for their war).
Meanwhile, Al Qaida terrorist network has grown to upwards of between 70,000 and 100,000 members-- many of whom are right here in the USA.
The war on Iraq was unnecessary, optional, illegal & immoral. Hundreds of our men and women died (based upon "just one sentence"), as well as thousands of Iraqis-- This is unacceptable, and should be condemned by the full measure of the law.
Bush hopes that Tenet's willingness to take the fall will exonerate him-- or at least wear the public interest down until the next diversionary or scare tactic drummed up by Rove, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz, can be sent like a plague to scare us so badly we shut-up.
Until "We the People" wake up, "connect-the-dots", and, expose their lies, obfuscations and spin; we will continue to face the Bush administration's destruction of our ability to enjoy our rightful share of American's bounty, as well as the trust of respectable nations abroad.
We would do well to remember Edward Gibbon's warning in his epic work "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire":
"So long as mankind shall continue to lavish more praise upon its destroyers than upon its benefactors war shall remain the chief pursuit of ambitious minds".
Tenet Takes the Fall ... It's Nice to Have "Connections" ...
CIA Director George Tenet has "taken the fall" for the Bush/Cheney deceptions regarding the phony uranium sales by Niger to Iraq, which was "cooked-up" to strike fear into the hearts of our citizens. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, all described the mind-boggling danger vividly with visions of a "mushroom" cloud killing millions of our people, if we didn't rush into Iraq, as fast as possible. We couldn't possibly let the UN Inspectors do their job, although the world community was adamant that there was no threat so long as they were in Iraq. The UN Inspectors stated that the US administration declarations regarding an Iraqi nuclear programme were misleading and false. Instead, the Bush/Cheney junta chose word-smithing (Bush/Cheney junta Newspeak)-- and pressured the CIA to change statements mis-leading the American people, by stating that British Intelligence reports that Africa was selling uranium to Iraq. They lied.
Bush is not a wise man-- he's a petty and mean man, who has had every advantage handed to him on a proverbial "silver platter", but didn't learn and profit from the opportunities afforded him. He graduated from Yale with a degree in history-- but observers in the White House say he doesn't like to read history; doesn't have a solid grasp of history; and, isn't even curious about it. He hates visiting foreign countries, and prefers the provincial existence of a gentleman rancher, at his lavish Crawford, Texas palace (a far cry from the poor and run-down homes of many of the citizens of his own state who live without running water, and decent plumbing).
One could be forgiven for wondering whom Daddy Bush hired to instruct his son at Yale (or, indeed, who took his tests). Bush's lack of curiosity; lack of interest in details or nuance; and, lack of interest in intellectual pursuits, represents the long established pattern of his life. This may explain, why as President of the United States, Bush did not ask the obvious questions (one wonders if he even read the speech or understood it, prior to delivering it to Congress, the American People and the World at large):
- Do we go to war based upon British Intelligence? Isn't it unprecedented to go to war without our own American Intelligence verifying that the information is accurate?
- Shouldn't we verify that the information is correct before I go before the American People and make a definitive statement?
- Isn't it necessary we be absolutely certain that our information is correct before I send our men and women in the military to die?
- Shouldn't war be a last resort, after we've exhausted all other possibilities?
Instead, Bush was happy to read and blindly believe whatever National Security Advisor Rice put in his hands. Maybe today's CEOs choose to behave that way in order to cover-up their scams, but a President of the United States isn't a CEO-- he's a servant of "We the People". Rice is attempting to cover-up her own corruption and/or incompetence by stating the CIA "signed it off". That's "passing the buck" since the CIA did indeed state to the NSA that the information was suspect. Moreover, no one in the Bush/Cheney junta has expressed outrage at having false information approved-- This is because they knew it phony and pressured the CIA.
The Bush/Cheney junta's real motives for their illegal and immoral incursion into Iraq have yet to be made public. "We the People" have a right to know.
The fact that the Bush/Cheney junta pressured the CIA into including false data by playing with words (e.g. "it depends upon what the meaning of the word is, is"), implicates them in a terrible crime: launching a war under false pretences. The fact that Tenet is willing to "take the fall", doesn't clear Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, of a crime. The Bush/Cheney operatives are not innocent--they are guilty of misleading the American people into an unnecessary war that has resulted in over 200 American deaths, thousands of innocent Iraqi deaths and hundreds of casualties.
Bush is a master of being "mis-underestimated", or as Bush brags "I'm the master of low expectations". Throughout his life, he has fine-tuned the art of having other people "clean up his messes" and saving him from ruin. Daddy Bush taught him that. Review Bush's business failures, after which Daddy's Corporate Cronies purchased his stock for values far exceeding their worth. Bush then went on to accomplish the great achievement of having the Texan taxpayers build a hugely expensive baseball stadium, which drove up the value of his baseball team, that he then sold to Cronies for a fat, juicy profit.
"We the People" are witnessing this bizarre "Connections are Everything" phenomena, in which, once again--someone else is willingly paying the price to get this inept, corrupt and, bumbling President Bush "off the hook". They always said of Daddy Bush that he had "the greatest resume... he had the connections... and was someone who was 'born on first base, but thought he hit a home run'..." Like father, like son--both poor excuses for President.
Bush has literally and figuratively "gotten away with murder", and it's time that "We the People" demand the he be held accountable. It will be a new experience for Bush. It will bring justice to our men and women who died in Iraq under false pretences, since they didn't have Bush's "Connections".
Adolf Hitler, the master propagandist, is attributed to have told his staff that if one is going to lie, to tell the Big Lie and the people will believe it. Karl Rove seems to have taken this advice to heart.
The Bush/Cheney junta have shown us and the world their audacity in telling the Big Lie-- and we all remain silent. The Bush administration's crimes and deceptions make Johnson's public declarations of our progress in Vietnam; Nixon's cover-up of the Watergate break-in; and, Clinton's Grand Jury testimony regarding the Lewinsky scandal; seem minor by comparison.
It is time that "We the People" stand up and declare that the "Emperor has no clothes" and, that their tactic of using the "art of the Big Lie" no longer deceives us.
The following are concerns vital to our national well-being, that force any thinking man/women to be righteously indignant, and we need to call for Congressional Investigations, and for the Press to do it's job in following up:
1. Bush/Cheney "Big Lie" about Iraq
The "big lie" that the CIA approved of the White House using false information to lead us into an illegal & immoral incursion into Iraq, needs to be investigated properly. Now, Rice and Powell are saying that the CIA approved of Bush's 2003 State of the Union Speech, in which Bush falsely claimed that Iraq was actively pursuing a nuclear programme, using uranium obtained from Niger. The CIA retorts that they informed the White House, Vice-President Office and National Security Agency, that uranium sales intelligence was bogus, months prior to the administration mis-leading the public.
The truth is that the Bush/Cheney junta had decided prior to 9/11 (prior to taking over the government) to go to war with Iraq, in order to : (1) obtain control of oil for their Corporate Cronies, (2) establish Corporate global hegemony, and (3) revenge Daddy Bush.
Read William Rivers Pitt's excellent article entitled "Mr. Bush, You are a Liar" on :
The "big lie" that the Bush/Cheney junta developed an US Energy Policy in the best interest of this country, is debunked on the basis that Big Oil and energy companies like Enron, gouged consumers by raising prices, in order for the "top-dogs" and "fat-cats" to gorge on fat profits. The citizen is paying more at the pump-- although there is a glut of oil and OPEC has not raised it's prices in recent years.
Moreover, in the summer of 2001, Bush & Cheney's energy buddies staged a phony shortage, which resulted in over-charging California consumers, raping the state of billions in revenue.
Recently a federal court has over-turned Cheney's desire to cover-up the Energy Task Force meetings he chaired in 2001. Cheney is desperate to avoid making public the attendees and discussions that took place, although we have a right to know. Cheney should be forced to divulge who profits from this so-called Energy Policy-- and what the plans were and are, that are paid for by the American taxpayer in lives and treasure.
Methinks that the truth might come out, that Cheney betrayed the American public, by selling us out to Big Oil and Energy big-wigs-- informing them that our US Military would be deployed as serfs (i.e. sacrificed) to wage war on oil-rich Iraq, in order to break OPEC, and allow Corporations to control the energy agenda. If it was confirmed that the war on Iraq was, indeed, planned early in the Bush administration for corrupt, ulterior motives to enrich Corporate America-- then Bush Inc. would be in violation of the US Constitution, and would be subject to a trial and impeachment.
Read Henri E. Cauvin's article in the Washington Post entitled "Cheney loses Ruling on Energy Panel Records" on :
Bush has consistently resisted and stone-walled any investigation into 9/11. For such a disaster to be left without an in-depth analysis into intelligence failures, is outrageous. Yet, Congress abdicated their responsibility by agreeing to Bush's unreasonable request, and thus the "chain-of-evidence" by now, has probably been destroyed.
The "big lie" is that the Bush/Cheney junta did not know that a major attack on 9/11 was planned. Indeed, the National Security Advisor had reports on her desk advising her that highjackings would take place. Yet no warning was issued, and increased security was not put in place.
By 9/10/2001, Bush was in trouble here at home: the Energy Company's rape of consumers by staging a phony energy shortage was about to be made public; the Enron scandal in which Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay, Bush's long-time buddy, was about to break exposing the Corporate Crooks, raping their company's assets & pension funds; and, the economy was facing recession.
Lucky for Bush, 9/11 wiped all of these "problems" off the radar-- and subsequently, the people rallied around this crooked administration.
Ultimately, Bush could not avoid an investigation into 9/11, due to the pressure brought to bear by the families of those who died. So Bush audaciously chose to appoint the Great Liar & War Criminal Henry Kissinger, who ultimately was forced to step-down, rather that release the list of his clientelle, who most probably profitted greatly from the aftermath of the 9/11 disaster.
The 9/11 review committee that Bush was finally forced to appoint, were not given proper funding to carry out a proper and truthful investigation, and were intimidated and stone-walled by the Bush/Cheney junta.
The truth is that Bush, Cheney, Rice & Rumsfeld knew that 9/11 would happen-- and did nothing, because the disaster would give them the manoeuvring room to push through their Corrupt Corporate Agenda.
The Bush/Cheney junta have given huge tax cuts to owners of the largest SUVs guzzling the most gas. Moreover, they have squashed any attempts by the EPA to establish policy to provide a minimum of protections for the environment. Instead, they have given their Corporate Pay-masters the right to run rampant over the fruited plains, and "to hell" with the health of our planet.
The "big lie" is that Bush professes to support research into alternatives to oil and clean energy which is non-polluting. Yet, instead of appointing a commission to work with international energy groups, Bush refused to even discuss the Kyoto treaty or environmental issues with other world leadmrs.
Phe USA fs responsible ffr over n quartep of the$world's-green-hcuse emipsions, mnd yet enstead ef leadiig the wgrld in a programme to safeguard our planet, the Bush/Cheney Corporate junta has allowed Corporations to emit ever greater quantities of pollutants into our environment, by relaxing regulations passed to reduce wanton damage.
Furthermore, just recently the Bush/Cheney White House censors deleted parts of a report produced by the Environment Protection Agency, citing the damage caused by pollutants emitted into our world, and the increasing problem of global warming. They literally censored a government report paid for by the taxpayer-- and refused to allow it to be published. This is outrageous. Producing a report only with the "bits-and-pieces" they like, is tantamount to "cooking the books".
Read Brad Knickerbocker's article entitled "Political Football makes EPA job hard to tackle" on :
This is the "biggest lie" of them all! Bush has driven our economy into a looming recession, with the most reckless spending, resulting in the highest deficit and National Debt in our country's history. Unemployment has skyrocketed to 6.4% and is still rising, and 10,000,000 folks are unemployed and looking for work.
In the midst of this chaos, Bush has given massive welfare to the Wealthiest, Richest 5% of Americans. He has lied about the nature of the tax cuts, since most Americans will see their state and local taxes increase-- and receive very little, if any federal relief. Social programmes are being slashed: "leave no child behind" has become a joke, as ever more kids are going to schools which have had to cut their staffing and their curriculum. The wanton callousness of the Bush/Cheney junta in the face of the horrific state of our nation's health care and the pharmaceutical industry's "shake-down" of our sick and elderly who can't afford the "lone-shark" prices of medicine-- is despicable.
Bush rants about Freedom, Education, Health Care and Prosperity for Iraqis and Africans... and is obliterating the well-being of Americans.
The recent "tax cut for the rich" was both insane and immoral-- and will leave a debt for this and future generations that will be back-breaking and heart-breaking.
The truth is that the Bush/Cheney junta are creating a 21st Century Feudal System, in order that the oligarchy will own over 95% of the wealth of this nation (and others), and the rest of us will be enslaved as modern-day serfs scratching to make ends meet. Bush hypocritically condemns racial slavery in Africa, but installs economic slavery at home and around the world.
Read the May 20th, 2003, article by Warren Buffet, published in the Washington Post, entitled "Dividend Voodoo", and the excellent articles of Professor Paul Krugman in the New York Times.
"We the People" must acknowledge how far we've fallen from the days when our great leaders, who founded this country, risked their Lives, their Fortunes and their Sacred Honor. The Bush/Cheney junta have only risked the Lives of others, amassed their own Fortunes by redistribution of wealth from poor, working and middle-class families to themselves, and have No Sacred Honor.
On May 1st, President Bush cynically staged a bombastic photo-op aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, declaring the War on Iraq over and "Mission Accomplished!"
According to the Bush/Cheney junta, there is no war, although an average of one American/day is killed (countless are wounded, maimed & injured) Moreover, scores of Iraqis are killed and maimed daily. Today, two more of our boys in uniform were killed. Since Bush's "happy-go-lucky" celebration, 65 Americans have been killed. What if the the War in Iraq wasn't over?
The USA has spent approximately $350 billion/year on the military industrial complex, over the last decade. Bush has increased that obscenely excessive expenditure to over $500 billion/annum. Some in the administration predict by 2005, Bush will increase it to the staggering sum of $800 billion!
Each year, our military spending is in excess of the next 15 richest nations combined, and over 400 times what Iraq spent on their military. Roughly speaking, since the Gulf War 1 was over, we have spent $4,200,000,000,000 on Defense (sic), while Iraq spent $875,000,000 on Defense-- observe the difference in magnitude: Quite frankly, Iraq didn't pose a threat-- and those pesky WMDs are so well hidden, that they're not deployable, so they pose no threat now.
So why are we having such a tough time, when the arrogant Bush/Cheney junta said we'd be greeted with cheers & celebrations ala the liberation of Paris in August 1944. This is because this arrogant administration failed miserably to plan for the safeguarding of basic services like electricity, food, water, health care, and security. Instead, they tripped over themselves in a mad dash to secure the OIL. No wonder so many Iraqis mistrust us-- they are amongst the most well-educated population in the Middle-East, and are not stupid (Frankly, I don't trust the Bush/Cheney junta either!).
It is tragic that this "non-war", this "Mission Accomplished!" is resulting in so much misery, and the unnecessary deaths of Americans and Iraqis day after day.
"We the People" must ask our Executive Branch to explain what this is, if not war; and, what mission was accomplished? The mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers and children of our dead service men and women, deserve an honest answer. We all deserve to know just how many human beings are destined to die to save Bush's pathetic reputation and petty-pride. That Saddam Hussein is gone is not good enough. For a lot of Iraqis are saying they were better off with Hussein, than with Bush. Moreover, there is no proof that Hussein posed any threat to us, despite the Bush/Cheney junta's dishonest rhetoric.
Read the time-line of US Deaths in the following article published in the UK Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk) today:
US Central Command has reported the deaths of 65 American service personnel in Iraq since 1 May when President Bush declared that major combat was over. Of the dead, a large proportion were killed in combat, typically in ambushes involving rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and sniper attacks.
In the same period, UK forces lost six servicemen - all members of the Military Police who were attacked in a village about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Basra.
The following entries are based on day-to-day Central Command news releases and do not cover war-related casualties outside Iraq or the possible deaths of soldiers succumbing to their wounds at a later stage.
9 July: A soldier (Fourth Infantry Divsion) dies of a gunshot wound in a 'non combat incident' in Balad
9 July: A soldier (Fourth Infantry Division) dies and another is wounded in a grenade attack on thier convoy in Baghdad
9 July: A soldier (Third Corps Support Command) is killed by small arms fire when a convoy is ambushed near Al Mahmudiyah
7 July: A soldier (101st Airborne Division) dies from gunshot wounds in a 'non combat incident' in Balad.
7 July: A soldier is killed when an explosive device strikes his vehicle while on patrol in Kadhimyah, Baghdad.
6 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) is killed during a firefight between his platoon and Iraqi gunmen in the Ad Hamiyah area of Baghdad.
6 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) dies after being shot in the head on the Baghdad University campus.
3 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) is killed in Baghdad when a Bradley vehicle comes under sniper fire.
3 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) dies of gunshot wounds in a "non-combat" related incident.
2 July: A Marine (First Expeditionary Force) dies and three are injured while conducting mine clearing operations in Karbala.
2 July: A US soldier dies from wounds received when his convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device in Baghdad the previous day.
28 June: The remains of two soldiers missing since 25th June are recovered 20 miles outside Baghdad.
27 June: One soldier (First Armoured Division) killed and four injured in a grenade attack in the Thawra area of Baghdad.
26 June: One soldier (First Marine Expeditionary Force) killed in ambush while investigating a car theft in An Najaf.
26 June: One special forces soldier killed and eight injured in a 'hostile fire' incident in south-west Baghdad.
25 June: One soldier (First Marine Expeditionary Force) killed and two are injured when their armoured vehicle overturns as they rush to help colleagues under fire.
24 June: Soldier (First Armoured Division) dies in a "non-combat incident". No details given.
22 June: One soldier (First Armoured Division) killed and one injured in a grenade attack on a military convoy south of Baghdad, in Khan Azad.
19 June: One soldier (804th Medical Brigade) killed and two injured in an RPG attack on a military ambulance in an area north of Camp Dogwood in the town of Iskandariya.
18 June: One soldier killed (First Armoured Division) and one wounded in a gun attack at a petrol distribution plant in Baghdad.
17 June: Soldier (First Armoured Division) mortally wounded by sniper in north-west Baghdad.
16 June: Soldier (First Marine Expeditionary Force) dies of "non-hostile gunshot wound" in An Najaf.
15 June: Soldier mortally wounded in "an apparent non-hostile incident" in the Taji area. No further details given.
13 June: One soldier (V Corps) dies and eight are injured in an armoured vehicle rollover accident 20 kilometres south of Asad Air Base.
13 June: Soldier drowns while swimming in lake near Falluja.
10 June: One paratrooper (82nd Airborne Division) killed and one injured in RPG attack in south-west Baghdad.
8 June: Soldier shot dead while manning a traffic control point in Qaim.
7 June: One soldier killed and four wounded in RPG and gun attack near Tikrit.
6 June: One soldier killed and two injured in a vehicle accident about 35 kilometres north of Baghdad.
6 June: Navy Seabee (serving with the First Marine Expeditionary Force) killed handling unexploded ordnance in Kut.
5 June: One soldier (101st Airborne Division) killed and five wounded in Falluja in an RPG attack.
Town vents its anger at US 2 June: Soldier (Fourth Infantry Division) mortally wounded in RPG and gun attack near Balad.
30 May: Three soldiers die as result of vehicle accident between Mosul and Tikrit.
29 May: Soldier "killed by hostile fire" while travelling on a main supply route. No further details.
27 May: Two soldiers killed and nine wounded in RPG and gun attack in Falluja.
26 May: Soldier drowns "after diving into an aqueduct" south of Kirkuk.
26 May: One soldier killed and three injured when their vehicles runs over mine or unexploded ordnance. No further details.
26 May: One soldier killed and two injured in a collision with a tractor.
26 May: One soldier (Third Armoured Cavalry Regiment) killed and one wounded in ambush on their convoy near Hadithah, about 193 km north-west of Baghdad.
25 May: One soldier killed and one injured in an apparent accidental blast at a former Iraqi munitions dump.
21 May: Soldier killed in vehicle accident near Baqubah.
19 May: All four crew members killed when Sea Knight helicopter crashes in the Shat Hilla Canal. One marine drowns while trying to rescue the crew.
19 May: One soldier killed in traffic accident near Safwan.
18 May: One soldier killed and one wounded in traffic accident near Samawa.
18 May: Soldier (Fourth Infantry Division) dies of "non-hostile gunshot wound".
17 May: One soldier killed and three injured while detonating unexploded ordnance in Baghdad.
14 May: One soldier killed and two injured in traffic accident near Irbil.
13 May: One soldier killed in accidental munitions explosion near Hilla.
12 May: Two soldiers killed in accidental munitions explosion.
9 May: Three soldiers killed and one injured in helicopter crash near Samarra.
8 May: Soldier killed by lone gunman in Baghdad.
4 May: Soldier dies in apparent suicide.
3 May: Soldier dies in apparent accidental shooting.
1 May: Soldier killed in traffic accident near Habbaniya
Beware ... "Big Brother" is Spinning a Web of Newspeak ...
Beware, because "Big Brother" is spinning a web of newspeak, that many of the great liars of our time wouldn't have had the audacity to have dreamt of ... furthermore, the Bush administration is using intimidation and fear tactics against those who pose unpleasant questions in Congress, or in the Press, or in Investigative Committees (9/11).
Yesterday, upon being questioned by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld bizarrely declared that we did not go to war over new intelligence, but instead, "we saw existing intelligence in a new light, and [old] information in the 'prism' of new experiences like 9/11"... That is absurd! Intelligence information is supposed to be based upon a serious assessment, and it is critical that it accurately links the relevant era or time-period, to the contravention or danger under scrutiny. Intelligence information that is outdated isn't relevant, for goodness sake. Moreover, Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.
We all knew Saddam Hussein had WMDs; but that's not what the Bush/Cheney junta stated in order to lead us into their illegal & immoral incursion into Iraq. They stated that the intelligence confirmed Saddam Hussein has these weapons now (present tense), and planned to use them against us now (present tense). In the aftermath of the quagmire in Iraq, we are finding out that intelligence was old and hence, irrelevant. What a shocking admission:-- to lead people into a war, based upon obsolete data. It's outrageous! It's incompetent! It's corrupt!
Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al.:-- None of them said "Saddam Hussein HAD WMDs which he COULD or MIGHT use to attack us"... Instead, they all stated "Saddam Hussein HAS WMDs which he INTENDS to use to attack us". In the English language, this difference in tenses is absolutely fundamental. When "caught with their pants down", this corrupt Bush administration should not be allowed to spin language in order to avoid accountability. They lied... A few years ago, the right-wingers, and also a lot of liberals condemned Nixon and Clinton for lying to our country. Isn't it also wrong for Bush to lie? I suggest that he should be investigated, tried, impeached and removed from office, for his egregious crime is far more destructive to our nation than anything done by Nixon or Clinton. In neither Watergate, nor the Lewinskey scandals, did our military men & women die in the hundreds, and innocent civilians die in the thousands.
The fact that Saddam Hussein intended many years ago to amass WMDs, didn't justify going to war, and it didn't demonstrate that he proved a danger to us. We're still not sure of his intent, as he didn't threaten us, and it would have been suicidal for him to attack the USA. Additionally, he was the enemy of those terrorist organizations purportedly responsible for 9/11. I hope our Congressmen and the Press are able to think logically (to say nothing of ethically).
Imagine had President John F. Kennedy told the American people during the Cuban Missile Crisis, that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev "intends" to attack the US, based upon intelligence that was suspect. Khrushchev had indeed, said he was developing a nuclear capability, and would someday "bury us". Thankfully, we know now, that Kennedy pursued every avenue to negotiate a way-out to avoid warfare.
Instead of working out a peaceful solution, a corrupt leader can always devise pretexts for war. It takes a great leader to seek and develop a peaceful, hard-won agreement. Frankly, Bush lacks the intellect and wisdom required to work effectively with other world leaders and hammer-out peaceful solutions. Bush wanted and needed a war to use as a "bait and switch", in order to ram through Congress, a corrupt and disastrous "tax cut for the rich", which otherwise would have been debated by the American people. Bush also won his "double-whammy" by giving his Corporate buddies huge contracts in Iraq-- and giving the oil fields to Big Oil
Lest we forget, the greatest crimes in history are committed because of the convoluted "prisms" of ideologues who lead us down a path of destruction, and misrepresent positions on the basis of their "end justify the means" rationalizations. The fact of the matter, is that Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz are spinning because they took old data and manipulated it through their skewed "prisms" of desire for war (to do the bidding of the Bush/Cheney junta's Corporate buddies), and have since been exposed as liars.
The new spin is "Aren't the Iraqi people better off without Saddam Hussein?" ... not as yet ... however, that's irrelevant. The Iraqi people's welfare wasn't the Bush administration's justification for war, because if they had articulated that reasoning, the American People would have asked for a debate regarding our role in deposing leaders around the world, who oppress their peoples. The world is littered with despotic regimes, and it's simply not a convincing argument on it's own merit.
If Iraq had no oil, Bush wouldn't have waged his incursion. In fact, when asked about the massacres in Africa during his campaign, Bush said he wouldn't involve the US unless our national security was threatened-- (in Bush-speak that means unless Corporations desire to plunder foreign assets and peoples in other countries.) In Iraq, our national security wasn't threatened, and we did not engage in an honest public review prior to his rush-to-war. Bush doesn't care about the welfare of poor people, as he has demonstrated in his domestic agenda.
Moreover, the New York Times reports today, that Rumsfeld has stated that it's costing us $3.9 billion per month for our occupation of Iraq-- up from a staggering $1 billion per month, which he estimated prior to Bush's incursion. Who is paying this obscene amount in the aftermath of massive "tax cuts for the rich"? "We the People", that's who. Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz need to be sent not only to "Interpersonal Skills Workshops for Managers", but also to "The ABCs of planning a Budget Workshop". This spending is outrageous! Is this the Republican's idea of fiscal discipline? HA!
"We the People" had better re-visit our principles, ethics & judgements. To condemn a crime by one person (e.g. Nixon, Clinton), and to excuse it in another due to their powerful connections (e.g. Bush, Cheney); will return us back to the bad ole' days when Kings were above the law. Remember the Magna Carta in Exemplification of 1215, which for the first time in Western civilization, codified the principle that no man, including Kings are above the rule of law.
The Bush/Cheney regime has betrayed our trust. They should be impeached and removed from office in 2004 (at the latest)!
Three informative "must read" articles published yesterday are:
in which he describes the challenges faced by candidates who are preparing to run against the Bush/Cheney junta ... and their messages to us.
(2) Joshua Micah Marshall's weblog dated 9th July 2003, regarding Ari Fleischer's responses to questions related to the fabricated falsehoods of non-existent "sales of uranium obtained by Iraq from Niger"-- the cooked-up statement by Bush in his 2003 State of the Union speech, on :
in which he decries the misrepresentation and glorification of war (WW1). It's so important that we read serious historians who look deeper than the clichés we're fed about war.
There is no glory in war ... only deaths of men and women, whose lives are destroyed, and, the greed of corrupt, profiteers who gorge on the booties and loot. Rarely is it a case of self-defense. Iraq wasn't.
The US Census has reported in the latest population count updated in 2002, that we have an approximate total of 288,368,698 citizens, with 231,668,809 living in cities, and 56,699,889 living in rural areas.
At the time of the last census, the unemployment rate in this country was 4.8%. Bush's Domestic Policy for the Rich, has resulted in a dramatic increase in only 2 years to an unemployment rate of 6.4%, the highest in over 9 years, with over 10,000,000 people in search of jobs.
The Federal Government has established Federal poverty standards based on an income level of $18,400 for a family of four. After falling for four consecutive years during the mid-1990s, the poverty rate is increased from 11.3% in 2000 to 11.7% in 2001, and has significantly risen during Bush's presidency. The number of poor increased by 1.3 million to 32.9 million poor in 2001, and has subsequently risen to approximately 50 million citizens in 2003.
In one of the poorest states of the Union, New Mexico, with a population of nearly 2,000,000, the average income per capita is $21,931, just above the $18,400 poverty line. Their poverty rate is approximately 19%, significantly more than the national average of 11.7%.
A Federal Study today revealed that in New Mexico (with one of the lowest standards of living of any US state), the minimum poverty line for a family of four should be increased from $18,400/annum to about $27,000/annum, just enough to make ends meet in this poor state. In the state capital, Santa Fe, legislators are trying to get the minimum wage raised to $10.50/hour, and having a hard time since the wealthy few don't want their fat, juicy profits affected-- how else will they pay for their 1st class trips to "Old Europe" this summer?
Bush's recent "tax cuts for the rich" are unconscionable in light of the increasing poverty (which doesn't make the Nightly News on TV, because it isn't sexy-- it isn't exciting) in this country.
Moreover, just as the Bush/Cheney junta were ignorant of the country and peoples of Iraq, before launching their inept, bumbling & immoral incursion killing hundreds of Americans, and thousands of innocent Iraqis whom supposedly he was interested in "freeing" from Saddam Hussein who we were hold had massive tons of WMDs that he intended to use against us -- HA! Bush Inc. is ignorant of the misery of our own American citizens as a result of his corrupt economic policies!
Our Bush/Cheney Emperor & Liege is indeed ignorant of the State of the Union, and the increasing back-breaking & heart-breaking poverty. They are callous to those outside of their "circles" of cronies like Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay who is living the high life off the the ill-gotten gains he stole from Enron employees (jobs & pensions). But then Bush and Cheney said this would be the Corporate President... hmmm... time for reflection...
Instead of an insane "Pre-emptive" Doctrine of War on Countries with Assets coveted by the Corporate World, and, hence attacking those who refuse to subordinate themselves to the will of the Corporate Robber-barons, we need a "Pre-emptive" Doctrine of War on Poverty.
"We the People" are being driven down a rocky road, off of a dangerous precipice and into a deadly recession, increasing unemployment and poverty. Instead of anti-war rallies, maybe we should take to the streets to protest against the Bush/Cheney junta's archaic Feudal System.
The following article entitled "Anti-Empire Report" authored by William Blum is well-worth reading, and should inspire one to reflect upon the time when "We the People" will begin to "connect the dots" ...
"Anti-Empire Report" by William Blum ...
The words and actions of the Bush administration have so often been labeled "Orwellian" that it's become virtually a cliché. But one can not resist adding to the list. At a July 1 White House press briefing, a reporter asked spokesman Ari Fleischer: "Ari, the United States just declared about 50 countries, including Colombia and six prospective NATO members, ineligible for military aid because they won't exempt Americans from the International Criminal Court. My question is, why is this priority more important than fighting the drug wars, integrating Eastern Europe?" Fleischer replied: "Well, number one, because the President is following the law. This is a law that Congress passed that the President signed, dealing with what's called Article 98 actions that would make certain that American military personnel and other personnel who are stationed abroad would not be subject to a court which has international sovereignty that's in dispute." So what do we have here? The Bush administration drafts a law to serve its imperial and propaganda needs, pushes it through Congress, and then, when the press expresses some skepticism about the law's effect, the same Bush administration justifies it by saying: "Well, the President is only following the law." As to the court's sovereignty being in dispute, this is of course entirely centered in a city called Washington, DC.
For a dozen years, international groups supporting the Iraqi people campaigned to have the UN (read US) sanctions removed, sanctions which Clinton's National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, called "the most pervasive sanctions every imposed on a nation in the history of mankind". The United States, meanwhile, insisted that the suffering of the population was not due to the sanctions, but was the result of Saddam's lavish lifestyle. ("People of Iraq ... the amount of money Saddam spends on himself in one day would be more than enough to feed a family for a year," said a Pentagon radio program broadcast into Iraq). So then Saddam and his regime were overthrown. But the suffering continued anyhow in much the same ways. And then, with their usual lack of embarrassment, Washington officials declared that the sanctions are actually harmful and that they would have be removed in order to provide humanitarian aid and rebuild the country.
Reading about a horribly bloody suicide attack upon a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan on July 4 that killed dozens, and which is blamed on members of the Sunni Muslims, I imagined what many Americans would think about this: "That's good, they should all just kill each other with their uncivilized tribal violence if they can't learn how to get along any better than that." Then I thought about the American tribe which recently killed thousands of the Afghan tribe and then thousands more of the Iraqi tribe, for no discernible good reason or purpose, cheered on by the many other members of the American tribe at home waving their tribal flags.
US military commanders in Iraq have branded the guerillas as "subversives" and "terrorists". Donald Rumsfeld said there are five groups opposing US forces -- looters, criminals, remnants of Saddam Hussein's government, foreign terrorists and Iranian-backed Shiites. An American official there maintains that many of the people shooting at US troops are "poor young Iraqis" who have been paid between $20 and $100 to stage hit-and-run attacks on US soldiers. "They're not dedicated fighters," he said. "They're people who wanted to take a few potshots." Other members of the Bush administration use terms like "well-trained militants" and "professional operations". What no American official dares to have cross his lips is the idea that any part of the resistance is composed of Iraqi citizens who do not like being bombed, invaded and occupied and are demonstrating their resentment. Does that thought at least cross the minds of these officials? Or do they assume that United States moral authority is as absolute and unchallengeable as its military power?
The Bush administration is agreeing that Charles Taylor, president of Liberia, can and should step down from office and leave the country even though Taylor was recently indicted by a UN-sponsored court in Sierra Leone for "bearing the greatest responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law" during Sierra Leone's civil war. This is in marked contrast to consistent US government demands of recent years that all Serbian officials indicted for similar crimes by the UN court in the Hague be turned over to the court, or turn themselves in, with no exceptions, no going into exile, no mercy. To show how serious Washington was about this, they pressured the Yugoslav government to kidnap President Slobodan Milosevic and hustle him off to the Hague. But that's because the US had globalization designs on Yugoslavia's considerable assets and required that Milosevic and his team be replaced with others who would be more amenable to such an objective. In 1998, President Clinton sent Jesse Jackson as his special envoy to Liberia and Sierra Leone, which is next door and which was in the midst of one of the great horrors of the 20th century -- You may remember the army of mostly young boys, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), who went around raping and chopping off people's arms and legs. African and world opinion was enraged against the RUF, which was committed to protecting the diamond mines they controlled. Taylor was an indispensable ally and supporter of the RUF and Jackson was a friend of his. Jesse was not sent there to hound Taylor about his widespread human rights violations. Instead, in June 1999, Jackson and other American officials drafted entire sections of an accord that made RUF leader, Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leone's vice president and gave him control over the diamond mines, the country's major source of wealth. (See New Republic of July 24, 2000) And what was the Clinton administration's interest in all this? It's been suggested that the US had to deal with the RUF since they more or less militarily controlled the Koidu Diamond Mine area whose exploitation contracts were held by two Clinton cronies, Jean Raymond Boulle and Robert Friedland. Moreover, there was Maurice Tempelsman, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's paramour at the time, whose Antwerp, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv diamond marts arranged for Sierra Leone diamond sales to Tiffany and Cartier.
Take the children out of the room. What follows is a kind word about Saddam Hussein. During his reign, when the war with Iran and US bombings and sanctions made it feasible, the Iraqi people had free education all the way through university and medical school, free medical care, regular food packages for those in need, women's rights superior to anything in the Arab world, and religious toleration for Christians and other non-Muslims.
There are all kinds of intelligence in this world: musical, scientific, mathematical, artistic, literary, and so on. Then there's political intelligence, which might be defined as the ability to see through the bullshit which every society, past, present and future, feeds its citizens from birth on. Polls conducted in June showed that 42% of Americans believed that Iraq had a direct involvement in what happened on September 11, most of them being certain that Iraqis were among the 19 hijackers; 55% believed that Saddam Hussein had close ties to al Qaeda; 34% were convinced that weapons of mass destruction had recently been found in Iraq (7% were not sure); 24% believed that Iraq had actually used chemical or biological weapons against American forces in the war (14% were unsure). "If Iraq had no significant WMD and no strong link to Al Qaeda, do you think we were misled by the government?" Only half said yes. One can only wonder what, besides a crowbar, it would take to pry such people away from their total support of what The Empire does to the world. Perhaps if the government came to their homes, seized their first born, and took them away screaming? Well, probably not if the government claimed that the adored first born had played soccer with someone from Pakistan who had a friend who had gone to the same mosque as someone from Afghanistan who had a picture of Taliban leader Mohammed Omar on his wall. Many Americans, whether consciously or unconsciously, actually pride themselves on their ignorance. It reflects their break with the overly complicated intellectual tradition of "old Europe". It's also a source of satisfaction that they have a president who's no smarter than they are. All this is bad news for the American anti-war movement which needs to enlarge its ranks. "Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens," wrote Schiller. "With stupidity even the gods struggle in vain."
On several occasions I have been confronted with the argument that powerful countries have always acted like the United States, so why condemn the US so much? I respond that since one can find anti-Semitism in every country, why do we condemn Nazi Germany so much? It's a question of magnitude, is it not? The magnitude of US aggression puts it into a league all by itself, just as the magnitude of the Nazis' anti-Semitism does.
Cuba has recently been heavily criticized, by various shadings of leftists as well as by those to the right, for its sentencing a number of "dissidents" to prison because of their very close political and financial connections to American officials. Critics say that Cuba should not have over-reacted so, that these people were not really guilty of anything criminal. While I personally think that the Cuban trials were too quick and that some of the sentences were too long, we have to keep in mind that before the United States invaded Iraq there was extensive CIA and US military liaison on the ground with Iraqi dissidents and lots of propaganda to soften up the population -- propaganda beamed into Iraq with the indispensable help of other Iraqi dissidents. The United States has been on a ferocious rampage of bombing, invasion, taking over countries and threatening the same to others. The US ambassador to the Dominican Republic declared: "I think what is happening in Iraq is going to send a very positive signal, and it is a very good example for Cuba." An advisor to Florida Governor Jeb Bush, speaking of Fidel Castro, said: "The administration has taken care of one tyrant already. I don't think they would vacillate about taking care of another one." There was in this same period a wave of violent hijackings of Cuban planes and boats. Can Cuba be expected to ignore all this? Is Washington's work with Cuban dissidents to be seen as a purely harmless undertaking? Not done for a purpose? How can Cuba not feel extremely threatened, even more than the usual threat of the past 44 years? How can they not take precautionary measures?
"The causes of the malady are not entirely clear but its recurrence is one of the uniformities of history: power tends to confuse itself with virtue and a great nation is peculiarly susceptible to the idea that its power is a sign of God's favor, conferring upon it a special responsibility for other nations -- to make them richer and happier and wiser, to remake them, that is, in its own shining image." Former US Senator William Fulbright, "The Arrogance of Power" (1966)
William Blum is the author of: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2 Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir www.killinghope.org bblum6@aol.com
One gets whip-flash watching the Bush administration bounce from issue to issue, and gauging the differences between yesteryear's Rhetoric and today's bizarre Doctrines. One wonders if Karl Rove should consider engaging Britney Spears to perform her wide-eyed, precocious rendition of "Oooooppppsss, I did it again!" at the upcoming 2004 Republican National Convention.
Out of Africa ...
Candidate Bush said "While Africa may be important, it doesn't fit into the national strategic interests, as far as I can see them." When Bush was asked for his vision of the US national interests, he named every continent except Africa. Of course, Mr. Bush was never accused of "seeing very far", was he.
Now that Bush is facing pressure here at home for (a) having lied to the American people about Iraq posing an imminent threat to the USA, using massive WMDs, and (b) a quagmire in Iraq & Afghanistan where Americans are daily targets & casualties-- Bush is cynically using Africa's AIDS epidemic to bolster his tarnished image. And like the proverbial candidate who buys his friends-- he's giving Africa $15 billion in aide to fight AIDS, which might be justified had he not awarded his rich cronies their "tax cut for the rich" thus running up an enormous budget deficit.
Where is Bush getting the money to recklessly throw-around on "Pre-emptive" wars; massive tax cuts for the top 5% richest of the rich; $40 million bounty to find Saddam Hussein & sons; and other goodies to his Rich & Powerful "friends"? Answer: From Americans who are paying in blood, sweat, tears and slashed services! If this isn't using "We the People"'s tax money cynically, in order to buy friends: tell me what it is.
Oooooppppssss, Bush did it again ... Africa isn't important, unless the President is in trouble at home ...
Slavery ...
Today, it's reported that "President Bush denounced slavery today as "one of the greatest crimes of history" as he launched a five-day African visit with a pilgrimage to this onetime staging area for traders who dispatched their manacled captives to the New World."
Bush is selective in the type of slavery he chooses to condemn. Slavery based upon race, he rightly condemns. Consider this however: the dictionary definition of slavery is "The holding of human beings as property or chattels; also, the condition of a slave, a drudge. (A person over whose life, liberty, and property someone has absolute control. A person in mental or moral subjection to a habit, vice, or influence. One who labors like a slave; a drudge.)"
The Bush/Cheney junta favors slavery based upon economic class, in their 21st century Feudal System. They lavished enormous tax cuts on the already richest of the rich, thus depriving desperately needed services to the poor, low and middle-income Americans. Moreover, his slashing of federal taxes has forced states to raise their local taxes-- Who benefits? The Feudal Lords & Ladies who gain the bounty of his benevolence, on the backs of 95% of "We the People" who disposable income is shrinking by the day, and whose kids will be bankrupt paying off the highest National Debt in history.
Over 360,000 jobs were lost in June-- and the number of Americans looking for jobs has nearly reached a staggering 10,000,000 (refer to http://www.bls.gov - US Dept of Labor statistics web-site), and the rate of unemployment is at 6.4% and rising.
Bush's rhetoric in selling his 2001 & 2003 "tax cut for the rich" schemes, is diametrically opposed to the catastrophic results "We the People" must bear. As predicted by respected economists, Warren Buffet, and other wealthy, but concerned Americans: the "investment classes" aren't investing, and jobs aren't being created, as Bush promised. The Bush/Cheney junta are without shame, and now want to eliminate over-time pay for those hard-working Americans on hourly wages. If this isn't economic slavery: tell me what it is.
Oooooppppsss, Bush did it again ... slavery is a crime, except for Corporations who enslave hard-working Americans (and the world's poor) ...
War ...
Candidate Bush wasn't going to pursue foreign adventures ... (he didn't even know where Kosovo was and said his advisors would tell him if he needed to know). He cynically used 9/11 to whip up American paranoia to support his incursion into Iraq, using a phony pretext of "WMDs posing an imminent threat"... There certainly was no imminent threat-- and if Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs, they were not easily accessible, nor were they easily deployable.
In his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush lied to the American people, regarding Iraqi weapons programs, and the White House has finally been forced to acknowledge that the Niger uranium sale to Iraq was "incorrect". The fact that this phony, counterfeit "intelligence" was known to Vice-President Cheney's office, National Security Agency, CIA and the broader intelligence community, over 10 months prior to Bush's speech to "We the People" warrants further investigation. If this isn't grounds for impeachment and removal from office: tell me what is.
Our US military men and women are dying practically every day in Iraq. Today, 7 more US soldiers were attacked... the violence is increasing, and thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have been slaughtered.
We still don't know the real motives-- but one could be forgiven for deducing that it's control of OIL resources and fat, juicy contracts awarded by the Bush/Cheney junta to Big Oil Contributors, Halliburton, Bechtel, & the Feudal Lords & Ladies who have made out big time, off the "blood & guts" of US men and women enslaved to do their bidding.
Oooooppppsss, Bush did it again ... "I want peace", but the "Pre-emptive" Doctrine raises my popularity ...
Lest you forget: Bush's tripping, stumbling, and bumbling, is paid for by "We the People".
Some thought-provoking talking points, my fellow Americans ...
Read some thought-provoking talking points, my fellow Americans:
-+- Whether or not you agree with him, Pat Buchanan has an unnerving tendency to raise profound issues that should be part of the public discourse. Read his excellent article entitled "The Supreme Court is not supreme" on : http://www.wnd.com/news/artic... .
The points he makes regarding Congress' abdication of its responsibilities as defined in the U.S. Constitution on: (a) cultural and moral issues to the Supreme Court, and (b) foreign wars to the Executive-- warrants a debate, whether or not you agree with his cultural perspective. Moreover, the President can avoid exerting leadership by blaming the courts, which undoubtedly the Bush/Cheney junta will do to "ram thru" their neo-con Supreme Court appointee when a seat becomes vacant ... something "We the People" need to watch out for...
The ability, for example, of the Supreme Court to rule in Bush vs Gore, against the right of our American citizens' votes to be counted, was one of the outrageous decisions of our time-- and will undoubtedly be viewed by future generations as poor and corrupt a ruling, as was the 1857 Dred Scott vs Sanford decision. The right of our votes to be counted is paramount in a free society.
Moreover, the ability of a President to declare foreign wars (using immoral "Pre-emptive" Doctrines), without debate in Congress and a formal declaration, is unconstitutional.
-+- If you want an example of the Bush/Cheney junta's spin run-amok, read 7th July 2003 Talking Points weblog by Josuah Micah Marshall on : http://www.talkingpointsmemo.... .
In his weblog, Mr. Marshall outlines this morning's press conference at which Ari Fleischer attempts to wriggle out of the President's deception in his last State of the Union address over the Niger uranium cakes sales to Iraq.
If you'll remember, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson said he informed the government, and that intelligence agencies knew there were no sales of uranium by Niger to Iraq, many months prior to Bush's false public declaration. Now we know that Vice-President Cheney's Office, CIA and National Security agency knew it was false, over 10 months prior to Bush using it in his 2003 State of the Union Address.
Even National Security Advisor Rice has had to admit that Bush's speech was "inaccurate"-- although her bizarre confession that those in the "bowels" of the organization knew information was phony prior to Bush's speech, but that those in her "circle" didn't know-- one might suggest she's moving in the wrong circles-- perhaps it is a good idea for her to pay a visit to the "shop-floor" every so often... Come down from your ivory tower, Ms. Rice, and start doing your job properly!
It makes Clinton's statement "it depends upon what the meaning of the word is, is" sound downright straight-forward!
Our massive military industrial complex has given a false sense of security to the Bush/Cheney junta who are keen to install their New World Order for their Feudal Lords & Ladies ruling over the fruited plains (and if they get their wish, all foreign plains, too) ... but Iraq hasn't proved as easy a "test case" as they had hoped.
Also, check out the costs of war ... (For an interesting site on war costs, check out: www.costofwar.com/.)
"We the People" have our work cut out for us in 2004!
On July 3, 2003, Bush taunted the Iraqi guerrilla warriors with a challenge to "bring them on". Bush got his wish. Every day thereafter, Americans or those Iraqi policemen under our protection have been killed. Last night another two American service men were killed in Baghdad, and the violence is escalating.
Thanks to Bush's reckless, macho rhetoric and his underlings Rumsfeld's & Wolfowitz's inept and bumbling planning, we are embroiled in a guerrilla war. The Washington DC-based Bush/Cheney junta aren't in danger, neither are their loved-ones. So why does Bush so callously use language more suited to back-street gangs, than to a Head of State?
Perusing through "the Bushisms" (on Slate's website: http://politics.slate.msn.com... ), and listening to Bush's speeches, one could be forgiven for concluding that Bush really thinks he's displaying force and power over his enemies, and that they'll be intimidated. However, if one observes the reality since 9/11, it is obvious that his scare tactics are only working on the American people.
Around the world, events are occurring suggesting that his bully-boy rhetoric and actions have only strengthened the resolve of other nations to increase their own independence and power, ASAP! Can you blame them?
In Europe, the Western & Eastern European countries are seeking to ratify their own European Constitution whose objectives are reminicent of those once held dear in our own country (but have been trampled on by a Corporate agenda). Moreover, they are discussing the establishment of their own European military industrial complex.
In Asia Pacific and the Far East, China and Russia have begun talks to increase co-operation and trade. Their leaders were alarmed by the Bush "Pre-emptive" Doctrine, and have subsequently determined that a counter-balance is needed to reign in US power run-amok, as displayed by the Bush/Cheney junta.
In the Middle East, the governments who support us, are those like Saudia Arabia and Kuwait: monarchies whose very survival depends upon our intervention if their unhappy people rise up to over-throw them. Afghanistan and Iraq are both in a shambles as a result of the Bush/Cheney junta's ability to "destroy", but their inability to "build"-- but don't worry, chances are that the "irrelevant" UN will clean-up the mess. Bush is surely "betting on it", hence, his politically motivated trip to Africa this week, at UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's request.
Bush fails to recognize that the world is not cowered ... it's just biding it's time, and ascertaining the most practical way to position itself in order to avoid being bullied in the future. In so doing, Bush has probably done the Europeans and Far Eastern countries, and perhaps, unintentionally ourselves, a favor in the future. For the era in which a rogue country can run rough-shod over everyone else will not survive-- educated people don't respect it, and won't permit it. The Bush "Pre-emptive" Doctrine gasped and will be rejected by the peoples of the world.
The European Charter and the rest of the world community want to move towards more humane, enlightened, rule of law and treaties, in order to advance man-kind from the tragic wars and enslavement of peoples in the past (and, sadly, under Bush in the present).
No countries, excepting those tied by a monetary umbilical cord to the Bush administration supports it's corrupt policies designed to create a neo-Feudal system enriching a very few robber-barons at the top of the Corporate heap. Surprisingly, some of those poor countries heavily dependent upon US aide stood against the illegal & immoral incursion into Iraq-- they can be proud & history will applaud their courage in the face of coercion & punishment by the powerful American overlord.
Europe has recognized that a civilized society does not allow a few of it's wealthiest to amasse the treasures of a country, while the majority live in serfdom. They've learned alot of hard lessons from history. Tragically, we haven't as yet.
In the early 1930s while Calvin Coolidge was blithefully croning that "The business of America is business", a recession took hold, which resulted in the Great Depression, and by the early 1930s, the unemployment rate in this country had grown to 23.6%, and ultimately rose to a staggering 24.9% in 1933. Those were desperate times for the working people of this country, but for the Corporate robber-barons, they were halcyon days. With so many people out of work and no unemployment protection, the ruling class could buy people for a pittance because they were desperate and had to accept slave wages & mistreatment just to survive.
If it wasn't for the fact that the Corporate robber-barons have always held a strangle-hold on this country, March 21, 1933 would have been declared a National Holiday-- the date on which Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched the New Deal, a program which put people back to work. This great act ultimately led to a recovery and the prosperity the next generation enjoyed in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Feudal Lords & Ladies who ran this country denounced FDR as a "traitor to his class", and hated him fervently. One robber-baron when asked if he wanted to buy a newspaper, replied negative unless the headline reported the death of his greatest enemy. The newsboy said that deaths were listed in the obituary section, to which the robber-baron declared: this one will be in the headlines, my boy ... referring to FDR.
The confident, indomitable FDR wasn't to be gainsaid. He was determined to save this country from ruin and in so doing, "saved the Capitalists from themselves".
Our current President Bush isn't as articulate as Coolidge... or any other president in history, for that matter-- but he is very much like Coolidge in his lack of vision of a better country for all citizens, and his blind loyalty to the Corporate robber-barons. He's just as determined to create a Feudal system as they were-- only now it's a new World Order, and not designed for the USA alone.
Whether or not, we're lucky enough for another FDR to come along is questionable. Beware that this country may have "tried it's luck" once too often. We had better wake up from our slumber, and ask ourselves what standards we need to set for our government leaders.
The language a man uses, gives insight into his mind-- and the mind of President Bush is petty and mean. The policies a man sets, gives insight into his vision-- and the vision of President Bush is limited to the welfare of the richest of the rich. The relationships a man establishes, gives insight into his curiosity-- and the curiosity of Bush is impoverished.
"We the People" can do better, and should recollect Eleanor Roosevelt's wise counsel: "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. "
This time let's not wait for someone else to come along and save us from ourselves. Let "We the People" speak out and demand intelligent leaders with an enlightened vision for this country... they're there if we chose to seek them out.
A frightening phenomena can be witnessed in our "free" press, which has been evolving since the good [i]ole' (sic) [/i] Reagan days, but is reaching its climax today. It is not the primacy of a "liberal" press-- nor is it the takeover of a "neo-con" press: but instead it's the lack of intellectual integrity today in the press.
From the time when Ben Franklin, under the pseudo-name of Richard Saunders and published his "Poor Richard's Almanack" in 1732, to the writings of such great "pamphleteers" as the remarkable Mark Twain and the brilliant H. L. Mencken who wisely observed "The smallest atom of truth represents some man's bitter toll and agony; for every ponderable chunk of it there is a brave truth-seeker's grave upon some lonely ash-dump and a soul roasting in hell"-- truth has been hard fought for, and not a "gift" to be taken for granted. How far we've finally come to Gore Vidal's keen observation that we now live in the "United States of Amnesia".
But something is still missing. Most Americans are now get their news from TV, and, apparently aren't reading newspapers or journals, at the levels they were in the pre-Reagan era. Moreover, while sales of "pop-history" are skyrocketing, the sales of serious works of history by authors who undertake the back-breaking labor to write as objective an account as possible, are not as popular. Writers such as Barbara W. Tuchman, who said in her introduction to "The Proud Tower": "It is not the book I intended to write when I begun. Preconceptions dropped off one by one as I investigated. The period was not a 'Golden Age' or a 'Belle Epoque' except to a thin crust of the privileged class." What a wise contrast to today's hyped-up cant by the neo-con court jesters who write books charging anyone who disagrees with the Bush/Cheney junta's proto-fascist agenda as "Traitors". These "pop" writers recognize no historical context, no complexity of character and action, no differences in the circumstances of people-- they're pushing ideological propaganda.
It is frightening that our kids are being taught that history's leaders were either cartoon heros or demonic mad-men. History is more complex than that-- and the struggles human-kind have undertaken to overthrow the chains of slavery and the Feudal system seem to be forgotten. What happens when a society or culture loses it's collective memory? In contemporary America, we're finding out, especially dangerous since our neo-dictator Bush isn't exactly : benevolent (nor is he compassionate-- ask the 200+ dead US service men and the thousands of dead & maimed Iraqi people-- and ask the US Military men & women once they find out that their benefits were slashed along with most Americans' in the recent re-distribution of wealth to the top 5% super-rich income earners). In fact, history is littered with leaders who thought that they had good reasons for evil acts in which "the end justifies the means"... sound familiar?
Having studied closely, both the TV news programs and newspapers across a wide spectrum of media-outlets, it appears that the concept of an independent press which asks probing questions of our government leaders is slowly but surely being overtaken by a culture of fear and compliance, in the never-ending competitive war for high ratings and subscribers.
If "We the People" aren't interested in the truth regarding the Bush administration's motives for "Pre-emptive" War and their lies regarding Iraqi "WMDs posing an imminent threat"-- we're not going to see probing questions and reporting. We'll be left in the dark, and have no one to blame but ourselves, because today's news reporters (who are very bright individuals) are now salesmen & saleswomen, selling a product, packaged for the mass-market tastes of the moment-- and success is rated based upon mass-consumption and mass-acceptance.
During the Clinton-era, the hard, tough follow-up questions posed to Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Sandy Berger, Richard Cohen, Madeline Albright, etc. on foreign policy and domestic issues (especially, once the Lewinsky sex scandal was publicly devoured en-masse since sex is titillating and easy to comprehend)-- is in stark contrast to the molly-coddling and pampering of the temperamental George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, etc., who "psyche-out" and intimidate their interviewers to keep them from probing too deeply.
It seems that the [i]ole' cliché [/i]"the best defense is a good offense" has worked to the Bush/Cheney junta's advantage. Karl Rove, "The boy genius" is certainly earning his keep from his paymasters, but "We the People" aren't being represented because the right questions aren't being asked.
The Democratic candidates better wise-up on this lesson, and fast!-- since they're being grilled and asked tougher questions than any posed to Bush Inc. and the neo-cons. Bush [i]ain't [/i]good at answering questions, so maybe today's reporters feel sorry for him... they obviously have a "soft spot" for his regime.
"We the People" better start writing our News Media Outlets and our Representatives in Congress: asking for tough questions, follow-up, honest answers, and accountability-- otherwise, we will live in ignorance. Remember Confucius in 478 B.C. : "Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star."-- this collective ignorance isn't blissful, and nothing to wish for in the Bush/Cheney junta's Feudal system.
Bush and Cheney informed the public when they took over the Highest Office of the land in January 2001, that he would be our Corporate President-- and the administration would be run like a Corporation. Clearly, they kept their promise. Little did we know that their administration would resemble Enron instead of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Over two months since the fall of Baghdad, and Bush's unconscionable Reality TV appearance on the USS Abraham Lincoln, gloating "Mission Accomplished!", we find the quagmire in Iraq is anything but over. The "mission" keeps changing. What good was "accomplished"?
In fact the conflicting information sent back from the US leaders in Iraq, is also at odds with the propaganda we're fed by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has kept a low profile since admitting to Vanity Fair that "WMDs representing an 'imminent threat'" was the agreed "excuse-of-choice" to squelch any unpleasant "bureaucratic" disagreements.
Currently we have approximately 158,000 American troops stationed in Iraq. US Civilian Administration L. Paul Bremer has asked for more troops since the occupation isn't going very well. There are an estimated 13 attacks against our US men and women in Iraq per day, and the leaders of the Shi'ite or Shi'a (representing the majority at about 60%) in the South, Sunni (about 20%), and Kurds (about 20%) in the North-- are all united in their opposition to US occupation. Moreover, they are increasingly angry with the Bush administration's incompetence to bring back basic services and security, which the US destroyed during the siege.
Instead, it's obvious to the Iraqi people that the Bush administration is more interested in the well-being of the oil fields than of the people. There are approximately 22,676,000 people in Iraq of which 42% are 14 years old and younger. These people are suffering, but rather than work with our allies (there was no need to rush into Iraq-- and it hasn't benefited anyone except the Corporate "top-dogs" and "fat-cats"), and eventually provide humanitarian relief via a UN coalition of allies, when Saddam Hussein's regime could have been toppled from inside:-- the arrogant, macho-man approach devised by Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz to "go it alone" has proved disastrous. The "buck stops" with Bush, the American CEO who is clearly not up to the job having damaged our reputation around the world; unnecessarily de-stabilized the Middle East; and, created economic havoc here at home. But the responsibility for the inept, infantile planning of the Iraqi incursion rests with Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz who blatantly ignored warnings from experts inside and outside of government.
Today seven Iraqi policemen under US supervision and training were killed. As Bremer is asking for more troops, General Richard Sanchez who is losing men and women daily, says he has enough to do the job-- he's probably scared of contradicting Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz back home and finding himself stationed in North Korea.
Which US leader in Iraq is right? Bremer or Sanchez?
Why does Rumsfeld keep telling us that there is no guerrilla war? He's starting to sound like General Westmoreland during Vietnam who was exposed for lying to the American people on the number of US troops being killed daily, to avoid losing support for that unnecessary war. Could it be that Rumsfeld's ego is a little bruised following his ridicule of military and civilian experts who said that his initial estimate of 80,000-90,000 US troops needed in Iraq was too low, and "now the chickens have come home to roost"... they were right, and we're up to 158,000 and need more! The current estimate is that to stabilize Iraq will require at minimum 200,000 US troops!
In most professions, if one's planning proved as incompetent and foolhardy as that of Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, especially in light of all the warnings which were made publicly and privately-- one would be dismissed. Additionally, if one treated their counterparts in our allied countries, as Rumsfeld has over these past months (who is proud of the fact that he "doesn't do diplomacy"), one would at minimum be sent to an "Interpersonal Skills Workshop for Managers" and most likely would be fired.
The Iraqi fiasco is a shameful embarrassment to this country:-- (a) in the bully-boy tactics and a complete lack of skill in diplomacy & credibility, leading up to the Iraqi incursion; (b) while the fall of Baghdad was no surprise given our extraordinary power in the face of an opponent largely disarmed in Gulf War 1 and the early 1990s UN Inspection Process, securing the oil fields and not also safeguarding basic services needed by the Iraqi people was corrupt; and, (c) in the appalling, inept mis-management of the aftermath and the situation on the ground to-date.
Currently we have between 1,414,000-1,500,000 men and women serving in the military around the world. The best estimate for their current deployment is as follows:
USA - 900,000 Europe - 120,000 Russia - 130 East Asia & Pacific - 100,000 Africa, Near East, South Asia - 308,000 (includes Iraq) Sub-saharan Africa - 281 Western Hemisphere (inc Central & South America) - 1,700
Every time we deploy a US Military service man or woman overseas, the cost/individual to the US taxpayer skyrockets (incl. costs of shipping, deployment, arms, support overseas, etc.). During Gulf War 1, Bush 41 at least ensured that these costs were incurred by the Saudis, Kuwaitis and our European allies. Bush 43 didn't learn from Daddy, and the good ole' American taxpayer (not including Bush's constituents who got the massive "tax cut for the rich") will incur an estimated cost of $1 billion/month for this adventure. This means drastically reduced federal, state & local services, my fellow Americans.
Now, the Bush/Cheney junta wants to deploy ever more troops in Eastern Europe, East Asia and Liberia... and we still don't have an Exit Strategy for Iraq. Nor has the President leveled with us as requested by Senators Lugar, Biden and Byrd.
We desperately need competent leadership in the US Department of Defense, instead of these neo-con ideologues who are arrogant, drunk with power, and don't care about the cost in lives and treasure.
I recommend that "We the People" call for Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz to step-down now: either resign or be fired. They aren't fit to serve in the positions to which they are assigned.
It is the obligation of "We the People" to vote in a new administration in 2004 to replace the Bush/Cheney junta, who instead of wisely working with our allies across the world to encourage positive change in a peaceful manner (and only using force as a last resort), arrogantly rushed into the Iraqi War for ulterior motives, and thus have betrayed not only our trust, but also that of our US Military men and women, the Iraqi people, and, the entire world community.
Last night a sniper responded to the bombastic, macho challenge by our swaggering President Bush who told Iraqi guerrilla warriors to "[i]Bring 'em on[/i]!" They did. Another American was killed and at least 18 more troops injured in attacks that continue unabated day after day. It is reported that the ambush severely injuring some of our soldiers (maiming, limbs lost, etc.) was in response to Bush's reckless challenge.
Our troops in Iraq won't be enjoying any Independence Day celebrations this year. No barbeques. No fireworks-- well the only "fireworks" they'll see might [i]kill 'em[/i]. Don't worry though: Bush is enjoying the White House fireworks display from the Truman balcony tonight, secure in the knowledge that his own family is far, far away from any danger. Boy, that's the closest he'll be to danger on this 4th July; not the case for those he's sent to Iraq!
An American soldier interviewed last night said:- We weren't prepared for this. I thought we came to liberate these people and then go back home. That's what the President promised. Now, I don't know when I'll get to go home. The Iraqi people don't want us here and we're not prepared for what we're seeing-...
Some Independence Day for our boys & girls in uniform, isn't it. This morning at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Bush told our military men and women that he vowed to attack any "terrorist group or outlaw regime" that threatens the United States with mass murder. If I was in that audience, I'd be real, real scared. I'd be asking myself: "How will you know if an outlaw regime can murder us? Look at Iraq, who didn't pose any threat to us... Am I going to die in a quagmire, based upon "sexed-up", fabricated "evidence"?... When is my tour-of-duty up?" I'd remember what Oscar Wilde said: "A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."
Some Independence Day for "We the People", if we cared: There is no end in sight to this quagmire that Bush got us into-- and, for what reason? Oooooppppsss: those WMDs posing an Imminent Threat to US... Where are they? What threat?
Now, Bush wants to send troops to Liberia, and topple the Presidential thug, Charles Taylor. Has Bush told us WHY? Nope, he doesn't need to. He launches his cowboy adventures, and "We the People" remain silent, "fat, dumb & happy". That's probably because only 1% of households risk losing a family member in Bush's wars. And only 2-3% of our young people are in the military, so most young Americans can enjoy their summer-time vacation and watch Reality TV and mind-numbing movies like "Charlies Angels" and "Dumber and Dumberer".
If anyone bothered to read a little contemporary history, they might be forgiven for wondering why this President isn't held accountable to answering questions regarding his "Pre-Emptive" Doctrine-- because Candidate Bush promised no foreign adventures... He condemned Clinton's involvement in Bosnia, for example, and said he sure wouldn't risk American lives... He's right: he's not risking them-- he's massacring them slowly but surely.
Oh, but the rationalizations used to scare Americans out of their wits are: "9/11", "terrorism" and "homeland security". Oooooppppsss-- Was Liberia involved in 9/11? You can bet Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz are working on that one-- the Pentagon's high-tech "special effects" lab may want to cross-check that they don't get their newly created presentations for Powell mixed up with the shoddy Iraqi "evidence" he presented to the UN!
If Bush wants to have a massive army behind him when he visits Africa next week: then risking our kids lives for his photo-ops:-- [i]ain't [/i]a good reason.
If Bush wants to appease the world community who are still angry with his "go-it-alone"-and-if-you- don't-like-it-"go-to-hell " doctrine: then, again he's risking our kids lives for popularity:-- [i]ain't[/i] a good reason.
If Bush wants to topple another thug-- then what about Zimbabwe, Congo, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc. etc. etc.-- Well, Bush has his own list... (and maybe I've just got the order wrong) in his perpetual war for perpetual "peace". It just [i]ain't[/i] a good reason, either.
Before assigning our troops to Liberia, this time Congress should call for Bush to explain to "We the People" in very detailed terms the following:
1. Justification-- why are we going? is it vital to our national interest, and if so, how? what are the benefits, how will this improve our national security and/or that of Liberia's-- and is Liberia's situation worse than that of the Congo, Zimbabwe, or other countries? can we afford to be the policeman of the entire world?;
2. Plans-- what is our plan, what specifically will we be doing there; who will be given armaments (remember Daddy Bush & Rumsfeld's sales of WMDs to Iraq, largely resulted in today's problems-- yesteryear's buddies become tomorrow's enemies-- in the Bush family it isn't easy to keep track...); what is the contingency plan if things go wrong;
3. Commitment-- how many of our men & women will be assigned, and for how long; what are the type of armaments to be used (I'm sure Bush/Cheney buddies in the defense industry are making out "big-time" and would like advance warning so they can plan on those big, fat bonuses from all of the profits they're reaping in their war-profiteering.);
4. Allies-- who else is sending troops, how many and for how long; how will we work together and share the burden;
5. Cost-- how much will it cost and what impact will it have on his already obscene Bush/Cheney deficit spending, budget & National Debt; (It's easier to squander American lives & treasure, than it is to say no to the Corporate "top-dogs" & "fat-cats" whose donations Bush/Cheney depend upon for their 2004 propaganda campaign.)
6. Risks-- what are the short and long term risks in lives (both ours and the Liberian people), cost, stability in the region, impact upon other nations;
7. Exit strategy-- what is the exit strategy under "best possible" and "worst possible" scenarios.
President Bush has an obligation to lay this out in detail to Congress before any troops are deployed to Liberia. Moreover, Congress has a responsibility to debate the issue and either give approval or thumbs down.
I wish our American service men and women a safe Independence Day today. "We the People" should be outraged that these lives are being squandered to bolster an American regime that isn't leveling with us.
The Bush/Cheney junta is clearly becoming increasingly embarrassed and worried that:
1. They still haven't caught Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden "[i]dead or alive[/i]" as promised (allegedly responsible for 9/11-- we can't be certain as Bush didn't allow an investigation into the World Trade Center disaster until well over a year later, by which time the "chain-of-evidence" is gone-- Oooooppppsss... like the shredded Enron documents... What DID Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay & Bush discuss over golf in those halcyon days following 9/11, when Bush's unpopular ratings rose like the Phoenix from the ashes to staggering heights of heady glory?);
2. There is no link between Al Qaida and Saddam Hussein... all the previous Bush administration "fabrications" alleging a link between the two have been discredited. In fact, intelligence sources have reported that bin Laden & Hussein were enemies with divergent objectives. Osama bin Laden wanted to establish Islamic rule throughout the Middle East, while Hussein wanted his secular Ba'ath party to retain power; (More damaging, is that Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz were running around in a panic-stricken sweat, at the Pentagon in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, with a desperate desire to establish links between Iraq & Al Qaida, to justify the incursion into Iraq to take-over the oil fields, topple Hussein & undermine OPEC-- which the Bush/Cheney junta promised to the Energy Barons in return for their support in the 1999/2000 banana republican coup d'etat [can't call that 1999/2000 fiasco an election].);
3. They haven't caught Saddam Hussein ... or killed him;
4. They haven't found WMDs -- never mind that it's obvious that the Bush administration lied about "imminent danger" to the USA (in fact, CIA Director George Tenet had indicated prior to his unsavory appearance behind Powell at that humiliating UN presentation which was so obviously "sexed-up":-- that "Iraq poses no threat to the USA". Powell's fabrications have undermined any credibility and respect he enjoyed internationally and amongst those who still care about truth here at home);
5. Iraq is a quagmire with over 200 Americans and countless Iraqis killed. The guerrilla-style warfare being conducted by Iraqis who see now that the Bush/Cheney junta indeed, was more concerned about Oil, than about their welfare or freedom, are increasingly angry & want us out;
6. Republican Senator Richard Lugar (Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) and Democratic Senator Joseph Biden returned from Iraq, and reported that: "It's time for the President to level with the American People". It's obvious to the "dumbest-of-the-dumb" that Bush has never leveled with the "We the People": Not before, during or in the aftermath of the illegal & immoral incursion into Iraq. Senators Lugar & Biden both reported that Iraq is a mess. (Clearly Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz aren't the geniuses, they or the pundits acclaimed... they've gotten us into a long-term, obscenely expensive adventure-- which will ultimately benefit Big Oil & Big Business, and not "We the People" who will still pay ever-higher prices at the pump, much to the delight of Bush, Cheney, Rice and the Oil Barons who will enjoy those nice fat, juicy profits.)
Thus, today, in desperation, Bush announces a taxpayer bounty on "We the People"'s behalf of $25 million dollars for the capture "[i]dead or alive[/i]" of Saddam Hussein, and another $15 million dollars for each of his sons.
Since his cabal took over the White House, it is obvious that responsible fiscal discipline doesn't interest this spend-thrift administration-- particularly, since they are making out like the robber-barons they are. But, given the massive National Debt and deficit spending run amok-- how much stress will our economy take before it simply breaks and we face a meltdown.
Bush can't be said to spend like the proverbial "drunken" sailor-- because he was AWOL and didn't show up for his "champagne brigade" reserve duty ([i]'cause he was a party boy, and proud of it[/i])-- the best that can be said of him, is that he spends like a "drunken" ... well, CEO?! (Ask the Carlyle Group about G.W. Bush's financial acumen, if you're in the mood for a real tearjerker.)
Whomsoever takes over from the Bush/Cheney junta, will inherit a mess that "We the People" will have to clean up (unless you're one of the recipients of Bush's largess: i.e. the Corporations and top 5% richest in this country of ours).
Why doesn't the Bush/Cheney junta chip in & also ask their campaign contributors who are sending $1000-$2000 checks en-masse for re-election of their Emperor & Liege (comprising a record-level in excess of $200 million, upwards towards $500 million) needed to buy the Highest Office in the Land? Shouldn't they pay the price of the bounty for Saddam Hussein and sons, since his current status is the result of their arrogance & failed policies; instead of lumbering us with every screw-up they incur, while rewarding themselves (but then they have that CEO mentality of "take the money & run")?
After all, $40+ million in bounty to capture the Bush Family Enemy-Number-One is chump change, following those generous Bush/Cheney tax cuts to Corporations and their filthy rich cronies (including the Bush Family and his administration folks like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Wolfowitz, Perle) ...
Sorry, Misters Bush & Cheney, but it's a lot of money to "We the People".
Since Bush took office in January 2001, over two million jobs have evaporated. Today, there are nearly 9,500,000 people looking for a job, the highest number in over 10 years. Moreover, the unemployment rate has risen to 6.4% the highest in over 9 years. Herbert Hoover would be well pleased.
The Bush/Cheney junta's promise that giving massive tax cuts to the already super-rich Americans, in the top 5% income bracket, would spur the economy is reminiscent of the failed "trickle-down" economics of the Reagan era which resulted in massive unemployment. It's not "voodoo economics"-- It's scarier and more sinister than that: It's a 21st century Feudal system, which the country's neo-Lieges are delighted to reign over, and are more determined than at anytime since pre-Depression days to install across the fruited plains (and worldwide).
The "top-dogs" & "fat-cats" at Bush/Cheney American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the neo-fascist "think-tank" run by people like Cheney's wife, cheered for the massive "tax cut for the rich", and got their court jesters (George Will, Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, etc.) to "sell" this snake oil to the public, although the majority of respected economists (e.g. Paul Krugman-- read his articles in the NY Times) warned of its damage to the country, and the average wage earner.
Once the "tax cuts for the rich" were rammed through a puppet-Congress, these high-flyers running the AEI dumped their stocks so fast, it gives one whip-flash just observing the difference between their hypocritical Rhetoric & Actions.
Instead of investing these tens/hundreds of thousands/millions of additional dollars (from tax cuts created by slashing badly needed services-- like public education, environmental protection, homeland security, health care, unemployment aid, etc.), over-and-above their already fat incomes, to create jobs, as promised by Bush... instead, these Feudal lords & ladies ([i]sic[/i]) can be seen this summer in France and across "old Europe", dining at the top restaurants and staying at the 5-star hotels. Apparently, Bush's promise that the "investment class" would use that money to spur new business & thus create jobs, is like his promise to "leave no child behind": it only applies to the RICH.
The lives of those whose jobs were stolen and pension plans raided by these corporate thieves (ala Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay, Fastow, Skilling) are becoming increasingly hard, and in many cases, desperate. But then the neo-facists of the Bush/Cheney Feudal system regard those who aren't rich as Un-American and "Traitors" and of course, must be suffering as well from "class-envy".
The eminent historian Barbara W. Tuchman, wrote a vivid account of life under the feudal system in 14th century France in "A Distant Mirror", and of the horrific social and economic consequences of great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, while the many toil in filthy and dangerous conditions without respite. The Bush Domestic Doctrine is inexorably moving us in that direction, as the very richest Americans are becoming obscenely richer, while many are suffering, and the burden is upon the middle-class to bear the brunt of the "back-breaking" (and heart-breaking) promiscuous debt & deficit, to payoff Bush's unnecessary wars abroad, & la Belle Epoque at home for the wealthiest 5% now exempt from shouldering responsibility to this society.
Without our country's "rule of law", security, infrastructure (safe water & food), and hard working people; those prosperous folks whom, either are ambitious, smart, or, lucky (e.g. inheritance babies) couldn't enjoy the fruits of all-of-our-labors. FDR's New Deal recognized this fact, which spurred the unprecedented prosperity of the late 1940s through the 1960s. ("No man is an island"-- and those rich folks like Warren Buffet & Bill Gates Sr, acknowledge the debt they, and those who have "made it to the top", owe to society. Even a genius couldn't prosper in Bangladesh, Afghanistan & Iraq, where the lawlessness & mafia pirates terrorize people, and they lack sanitary conditions for healthy living.)
Ms. Tuchman said in "The March of Folly": "The power to command frequently causes failure to think"-- and, indeed, we are witnessing an inept, corrupt foreign policy enacted in Bush's "Pre-Emptive" Doctrine which enforces his arrogant will upon other nations. Moreover, we are witnessing the phenomena of power superceding reason enacted in Bush's domestic Doctrine for the Rich, leading us towards a failed socio-economic system of Feudalism, which should by now be considered as anachronistic and immoral as slavery.
These Bush Doctrines are not what the founding fathers had in mind for "We the People".
Howard Dean is emerging as a very intriguing, intelligent, gutsy candidate for the Democratic party. He certainly is able to "think on his feet", and offer positive alternatives to the current insanity, and has good ideas to lead this country in the right direction. I wish him luck in the upcoming primaries, which hopefully will prepare him for the dirty tactics that Bush & Cheney Inc. have shown they'll wage to "WIN" at all costs.
Remember how Sen. John McCain was labeled as an out-of-control lunatic, who would go stark-raving mad & set-off a nuclear war at the drop of a hat? That was how the Bush/Cheney junta & their rabid "attack dogs" painted Sen. McCain in the 1999 campaign. Little did we know, that instead, Bush would be the lunatic launching an insane "Pre-emptive" Doctrine against anyone so foolish not to have real WMDs... No wonder North Korea's Kim Jong Il is desperate to get hold of those nukes ASAP. Wouldn't you do the same if you had watched Bush deceive Americans, and lead us into an illegal & immoral incursion in Iraq, which the entire world was opposed to? If you had heard yourself referred to by the bizarre appellation of "axis-of-evil", by Bush, you'd scurry to get those nukes and any other WMDs too, I'll bet.
Some of the political pundits, who hunger after those White House dinner invitations, really haven't posed tough questions of Bush or his entourage. But recently, they really went after Mr. Dean. On "Meet the Press", Tim Russert (who seems to have a little crush on Ms. Rice-- and, definitely has a soft spot for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell & Wolfowitz) asked Howard Dean about the size of the US Military & Armed Services, and how Mr. Dean would deploy them.
While Mr. Dean answered far better than Bush ever would have (but then rarely is Bush asked questions requiring factual answers), he stated that his advisors would work with him on those issues should he become President. A reasonable answer ... I don't recall Bush being asked any important questions; and, yet when asked about Bush's lack of international experience (he was an obscure Texas Governor without any notable accomplishments-- except for quickly dispatching prisoners to their deaths faster than any other Governor in history, and, being Dad's namesake), we were told he had an experienced group of seasoned people around him! Yup, right!
Mr. Dean-- I've done a little research, and have some interesting factoids:
There are currently approximately 1,414,000-1,500,000 men and women enrolled in the armed forces in the United States Military, and it's broken down into the following services:
Total by service (approx.) / Percentage of total
Army - 489,000 / 35% Navy - 382,000 / 27% Marines - 175,000 / 12% AirForce- 368,000 / 26%
Out of a US population of approximately 280,000,000 people, there are around 47,000,000 within the qualified age group to serve in the military. There are approximately 105,000,000 households in America.
This means that only 1% of households on average have a member of their family serving in the military. Moreover, within the age group of men & women able to serve, of which only 2-3% are in the armed services.
Is it any wonder that most of our citizens aren't terribly bothered by the 205 American deaths to-date in Iraq, and the daily killing of an American, on average?
Why should our young people who aren't really affected, be concerned with Americans dying overseas, with so many Reality TV programs and movies like "Terminator 3" & "Charlie's Angels" to watch?
And since only ONE member of Congress, has a kid on active duty, is it any wonder that neither the Senate, nor the House, are terribly bothered by unnecessary deaths of our people for a war waged for mysterious reasons (it sure as hell isn't the phony "WMDs MIA posing an imminent threat" pretext the Bush administration shoved down our throats)? (Actually Sen. Robert Byrd has been outspoken against Bush's betrayal of his obligations as President, and you should read his speeches published in the "UK Guardian" on http://www.guardian.co.uk - subscription is free, or at times, on "The Nation" on http://www.thenation.com )
None of the neo-cons: Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle were ever on active duty or faced the horror of battle. Perhaps that's why the tough-talk cowboy rhetoric comes so easy to them. Their kids aren't at risk. None of the Supreme Court justices kids are in the military, because they're too busy getting jobs via the ole' boy network in Washington DC-- talk about nepotism run amok (Scalia has a couple of sons working for Bush; Thomas wife worked for Bush; and, Rehnquist's daughter had a cushy government job [although she had to step down for incompetence & corruption, for letting Gov. Jeb Bush "off-the-hook" from a standard audit of Florida Medicare/Medicaid until the state's elections were over.... well, It's All in the Family, [i]ain't it[/i]?] along with Cheneys' wife & off-spring given jobs by good ole' pop's affirmative action jobs program for cronies).
Moreover, the screamers on FOX Network, neo-con radio talk show hosts, and pundits who write screed supporting this corrupt administration-- don't have kids at risk in Iraq either.
So, when Bush puts on his phony cowboy persona, and talks tough about how we'll stay in Iraq a long time and fight-it-out [i]mano-a-mano[/i]-- Bush [i]ain't[/i] risking any of his kids. Neither are his court jesters. Frankly, neither are most Americans.
But each one of those human beings serving in Iraq: Bush's "statistics" or "collateral damage" are real people with dreams, aspirations, loved-ones, strengths & weaknesses like any of us. They shouldn't be asked to give their lives, to die, for lies (phony pretexts of WMDs MIA posing an "imminent threat"), to prop up a corrupt, dictatorial administration run by Bush, Cheney & co. who didn't even have the decency to tell us the truth.
"We the People" deserve better than their unconscionable deceptions and this disgusting bloodletting... Remember, this isn't Reality TV, nor is it a sports event... It's the real thing: so let's start asking tough questions and demanding honest answers.
The controversial nature of last week's Supreme Court decisions on (I) Affirmative Action, and (II) Gay Rights, deserves further discussion.
(I) Affirmative Action
The court upheld the right of colleges and universities to create an environment of diversity, and to favor admissions of students from minority groups, but rejected the selection system, comprising "points" automatically awarded to minorities on the basis of race, as unconstitutional.
Given our history of slavery and discrimination, it is understandable that the court is sensitive to ensuring that minority students have access to higher education. Moreover, diversity is indeed necessary to overcoming irrational prejudices, and, thus increasing knowledge, understanding and tolerance between people from diverse backgrounds.
There is however, a compelling argument against institutions doing anything other than awarding positions based upon merit. If these institutions based their student acceptance upon merit alone, then G. W. Bush and his Daddy Bush would never have been admitted to Yale. There are alot of legacy brats at the Ivy Leagues who only gain access because of their ancestor's money and alumni status. This compels me to argue against affirmative action, if for no other reason, than the positions taken up by legacy off-spring doesn't give those with exceptional talent a chance.
Those conservatives who argue for merit alone, must admit that institutions who use any other selection criteria (e.g. legacy, sports, gender, geography, etc. in addition to race) are also discriminating against a candidate who is better qualified. It's a complex issue, isn't it, good ole' boys.
(II) Gay Rights
The Texan law outlawing sodomy between two consenting adults in private, was absurd, as even the neo-con's favorite justices, Scalia & Thomas admitted.
It was right and proper for such outdated laws to be struck down, as not only are they anachronistic, but our over-stretched law enforcement would be better off focusing on real crimes where people are harmed. Why isn't the law in Texas going after Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay after all, who bilked Enron of hundreds of millions of dollars, leaving misery of hundreds of employees with no jobs, and no pensions-- while dear Kenny-boy (good buddy of the Bush Family), is seen at country clubs and the best restaurants around Houston.
What two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own bedroom is no one else's business... Imagine if we attempted to regulate any behavior that didn't suit our fancy-- there are plenty of ill-bred acts seen in public every day which one wishes were illegal. (Personally, I'd like to see banned, the Bush/Cheney junta's destructive behavior towards our allies who simply chose to disagree with an unnecessary WAR on a country who didn't threaten us. The Bush/Cheney junta's public acts haven't been in the best interest of the USA, and sadly, their illegal acts of lying to the public aren't even being investigated).
In a free society, we must accept acts that aren't to our liking, so long as they do not involve the harming of others.
That's where the right-winger's "slippery-slope" argument falls apart. Of course, legalizing the right of privacy for gay people, is not going to lead to permitting prostitution (which is a commercial transaction involving exploitation of women from horrific backgrounds-- and is not a free, consensual act); rape; incest, or any other act which involves harming people. After all, man/woman-kind has the intelligence to judge the affects of each act, on an individual basis-- and indeed, our system of laws is based upon distinguishing between acts and assessing their impact upon others and society.
The review of human acts and determining whether or not laws should be created, retained, modified or struck-down is a continual process in a healthy society. Remedies are established based upon the degree of harm caused by acts prohibited because of the damage they cause.
Courts have always been involved in the "cultural war" and would Scalia suggest that in the "cultural war" to eliminate slavery, that states should have been able to retain that right if they thought it to be in the best interest of their citizens?
It is an absurd and illogical argument to oppose granting gays their rights to be respected and treated like any other citizens, on the basis that all other acts will automatically become licensed and legalized. They won't.
Instead of the right-winged Chicken-little crying "The sky is falling... The sky is falling"; perhaps they would do better by "We the People", if they would focus on apprehending those Corporate Thieves who left a trail of misery in their wake; taking the money and running away, that was very damaging to our people and to our society. Two consenting adults who love each other having sex privately is not.
[For the most intelligent discussion opposing the courts decision on affirmative action and gay rights, please refer to Pat Buchanan's article entitled: "What the court betrayals portend" which may be accessed at:
Mr. Buchanan should be reminded that originally sodomy was defined as ANY act of sex (including masturbation, and also any act of sex between heterosexuals as well as homosexuals), which did not involve procreation.
While Sen. Rick Santorum might want to return us all to the good ole' (or bad ole') days of only having sex to have kids-- I suggest he should focus his attention on more important problems caused (or exacerbated, or ignored) by the Bush/Cheney junta:
1. Failing economy with record deficits & highest National Debt in history, and rising unemployment;
2. Lack of health care insurance for over 40 million people in this country and rising;
3. No plan or exit strategy from Bush's War in Iraq, where Americans are dying daily (204 American Deaths to-date) as countless others are maimed & severely injured, which has turned into a quagmire; (Thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians killed-- hmmm... Do you think they're glad we invaded their country? How has massacring them "liberated them" as Bush would have it?);
4. Corporations given the right to rape "We the People" and the environment;
5. President Bush and his cohorts, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz-- all of whom lied to America to lead us into an immoral & illegal incursion into Iraq-- which should now be investigated in open-door hearings (aren't we supposed to be a republic/democracy with transparent government?);
6. Bush attempting to eliminate every right of a worker, which was hard-fought-for by our ancestors, to ensure we don't become serfs paying homage to feudal lords-- Bush for god's sake, wants to kill overtime pay to those working folks paid hourly wages;
7. Patriot Acts 1 & 2, enabling John Ashcroft to play the role of Robespierre "the Incorruptible" who instigated the Terror.
"We the People" deserve real debates on real issues affecting the well-being of our citizens and this country. Instead, we're being diverted by the Bush Family Doctrine of fear, coercion, diversionary tactics and highly-emotive (but not vital) issues.
What other terrorist tactics does this corrupt Bush administration have in store for us, to sweep them back into office in 2004? Or, are we going to accept a repeat of the banana republican coup d'etat that took place in 2000?
Perhaps, since Bush is now asking the UN for help to clean up the fiascos he's caused in Afghanistan and Iraq, "We the People" could ask the UN to monitor the 2004 election process...
The following article by Christopher Scheer, AlterNet, is well worth reading:
10 Appalling Lies We Were Told About Iraq By Christopher Scheer, AlterNet June 27, 2003
"The Iraqi dictator must not be permitted to threaten America and the world with horrible poisons and diseases and gases and atomic weapons." – George Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in a speech in Cincinnati.
There is a small somber box that appears in the New York Times every day since the start of the war. Titled simply "Killed in Iraq," and lists the names and military affiliations of those who most recently died on tour of duty. Wednesday's edition listed just one name: Orenthal J. Smith, age 21, of Allendale, South Carolina.
The young, late O.J. Smith, almost certainly named after the legendary running back, Orenthal J. Simpson, before that dashing American hero became a fugitive in a double-murder case. Now his namesake has died in far-off Mesopotamia in a noble mission to, as our president put it on March 19, "disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger."
Today, more than three months after Bush's stirring declaration of war and nearly two months since he declared victory, no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons have been found, nor any documentation of their existence, nor any sign they were deployed in the field.
The mainstream press, after an astonishing two years of cowardice, is belatedly drawing attention to the unconscionable level of administrative deception. They seem surprised to find that when it comes to Iraq, the Bush administration isn't prone to the occasional lie of expediency but, in fact, almost never told the truth.
What follows are just the most outrageous and significant of the dozens of outright lies uttered by Bush and his top officials over the past year in what amounts to a systematic campaign to scare the bejeezus out of everybody:
LIE #1: "The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program ... Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment need for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons." – President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in Cincinnati.
FACT: This story, breathlessly leaked to and reported by Judith Miller in the New York Times, has turned out to be complete baloney. Department of Energy officials, who monitor nuclear plants, say the tubes could not be used for enriching uranium. One intelligence analyst, who was part of the tubes investigation, angrily told The New Republic that, "You had senior American officials like Condoleezza Rice saying the only use of this aluminum really is uranium centrifuges. She said that on television. And that's just a lie."
LIE #2: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." – President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, in the State of the Union address.
FACT: This whopper was based on a document that the White House already knew to be a forgery thanks to the CIA. Sold to Italian intelligence by some hustler, the document carried the signature of an official who had been out of office for 10 years and referenced a constitution that was no longer in effect. The ex-ambassador who the CIA sent to check out the story is pissed: "They knew the Niger story was a flat-out lie," he told the New Republic, anonymously. "They [the White House] were unpersuasive about aluminum tubes and added this to make their case more strongly."
LIE #3: "We believe [Saddam] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." – Vice President Cheney on March 16, 2003 on "Meet the Press."
FACT: There was and is absolutely zero basis for this statement. CIA reports up through 2002 showed no evidence of an Iraqi nuclear weapons program.
LIE #4: "[The CIA possesses] solid reporting of senior-level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda going back a decade." – CIA Director George Tenet in a written statement released Oct. 7, 2002 and echoed in that evening's speech by President Bush.
FACT: Intelligence agencies knew of tentative contacts between Saddam and al-Qaeda in the early '90s, but found no proof of a continuing relationship. In other words, by tweaking language, Tenet and Bush spun the intelligence180 degrees to say exactly the opposite of what it suggested.
LIE #5: "We've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases ... Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints." – President Bush, Oct. 7.
FACT: No evidence of this has ever been leaked or produced. Colin Powell told the U.N. this alleged training took place in a camp in northern Iraq. To his great embarrassment, the area he indicated was later revealed to be outside Iraq's control and patrolled by Allied war planes.
LIE #6: "We have also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We are concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] for missions targeting the United States." – President Bush, Oct. 7.
FACT: Said drones can't fly more than 300 miles, and Iraq is 6000 miles from the U.S. coastline. Furthermore, Iraq's drone-building program wasn't much more advanced than your average model plane enthusiast. And isn't a "manned aerial vehicle" just a scary way to say "plane"?
LIE #7: "We have seen intelligence over many months that they have chemical and biological weapons, and that they have dispersed them and that they're weaponized and that, in one case at least, the command and control arrangements have been established." – President Bush, Feb. 8, 2003, in a national radio address.
FACT: Despite a massive nationwide search by U.S. and British forces, there are no signs, traces or examples of chemical weapons being deployed in the field, or anywhere else during the war.
LIE #8: "Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets." – Secretary of State Colin Powell, Feb. 5 2003, in remarks to the UN Security Council.
FACT: Putting aside the glaring fact that not one drop of this massive stockpile has been found, but, as previously reported on AlterNet, our own intelligence reports show that these stocks – if they existed – were well past their use-by date and therefore useless as weapon fodder.
LIE #9: "We know where [Iraq's WMD] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat." – Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003, in statements to the press.
FACT: Needless to say, no such weapons were found, not to the east, west, south or north, somewhat or otherwise.
LIE #10: "Yes, we found a biological laboratory in Iraq which the UN prohibited." – President Bush in remarks in Poland, published internationally June 1, 2003.
FACT: This was reference to the discovery of two modified truck trailers that the CIA claimed were are potential mobile biological weapons lab. But British and American experts – including the State Department's intelligence wing in a report released this week – have since declared this to be untrue. According to the British, and much to Prime Minister Tony Blair's embarrassment, the trailers are actually exactly what Iraq said they were, facilities to fill weather balloons, sold to them by the British themselves.
So, months after the war, we are once again where we started – with plenty of rhetoric and absolutely no proof of this "grave danger" for which O.J. Smith died. The Bush administration is now scrambling to place the blame for its lies on faulty intelligence, when in fact the intelligence was fine, it was their abuse of it which was "faulty."
Rather than apologize for leading us to a preemptive war based on impossibly faulty or shamelessly distorted "intelligence" or offering his resignation, our sly madman in the White House is starting to sound more like that other O.J. Like the man who cheerfully played golf while promising to pursue "the real killers," Bush is now vowing to search for "the true extent of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs, no matter how long it takes."
On the terrible day of the 9/11 attacks, five hours after a hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon, retired Gen. Wesley Clark received a strange call from someone (he didn't name names) representing the White House position: "I was on CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, 'You got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This has to be connected to Saddam Hussein,'" Clark told Meet the Press anchor Tim Russert. "I said, 'But I'm willing to say it, but what's your evidence?' And I never got any evidence.'"
- Cut taxes for the richest of the rich, the top 5% income bracket, and starved social programmes aiding those in need; placing a back-breaking & heart-breaking load on the poor, lower and middle-class who will bear the brunt of the obscene Bush/Cheney deficit spending;
- Cut funding to the states of the union, resulting in deficits damaging our public schools, slashing badly-needed services and, raising the state & local taxes of middle and lower income citizens (Gray Davis is being made the scapegoat for Cheney & the Energy Corporations rape of CA rate-payers in the phony energy shortage staged in the summer of 2001, to reap enormous profits-- Perhaps Kenny-boy (Enron) Lay, Fastow & Skilling, Bush & Cheney should contribute their ill-gotten gains towards paying off the CA debt which they caused.); and,
- Given "welfare" and deregulation (wholesale abandonment of safety guidelines and environmental protections) of rules established to protect consumers, to Corporations enabling them to run rampant over our people & our environment.
Now, Bush wants to eliminate overtime pay for those hard-working people in low-paying jobs, who labor over 40 hours per week. We know Bush, Cheney & their Corporate cronies who plundered the assets & raided pension funds, of those corporations they were obliged to safeguard, simply don't give a damn about working people-- but how far can we allow those basic rights of workers to be eroded?
Are we to return to the Feudal System and become serfs paying homage to patrons who live in a style that would make Emperors Caligula & Nero (and, even Saddam Hussein) blush?
Worshipping at the "altar of Capitalism" in its brutish form as practiced by the Bush/Cheney junta is proving very, very harmful to "We the People".
Methinks we can only hope of living "happily ever after" with a regime change in 2004.
Lincoln's Party of Some Who Can Be Fooled All of the Time
A past Republican President Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying that "you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time".
The current Republic President is indeed fooling some of the people all of the time. On May 1st, a hyped-up photo-op was staged on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier named after the great President who led this country through a terrible crisis of civil war. Bush, who instead, led us into an illegal & immoral incursion into Iraq, and unlike Lincoln, donned military garb unprecedented for a civilian leader, bombastically declared "Mission Accomplished!" (Perhaps neither Yale, nor his advisors, have instructed him on the important tradition of a relationship of primacy of our elected executive and legislative branches of government over the military who serve under a civilian leadership, and is supposed to remain neutral in political matters! No President, not even Eisenhower who was a General in WW2, excepting Bush has so flagrantly abused the military and undermined that sacred neutrality which safeguards us from becoming a military dictatorship.)
Over two months later, we are still embroiled in a horrific guerrilla-war, which even military leaders in Iraq acknowledge, is a quagmire. Last weekend we reached the sad toll of 203 Americans killed, and countless have been maimed (blinded, lost limbs) and wounded. Have you noticed they are being kept out of sight & the national conscience.
The right-winged neo-cons condemn those criticisms of Bush's false justifications for the war (those pesky WMDs MIA which they emphatically stated posed an "imminent threat" to us, our allies and the world). These intellectually dishonest neo-cons are now on the defensive, screaming that deceiving the American People does not matter. After all, we deposed a horrible madman. The fact that Iraqi people had electricity, water, and food during Saddam's reign, which they now lack, is only important if one lacks electricity, water, and food.
Moreover, I seem to remember these same hypocritical neo-con screamers in paroxysmal fits of rage that America would be brought down in flames, by a President who lies, and consequently must be impeached and hopefully removed from office... but that was in 1998, pre-9/11, huh... post-9/11, it's okay for a President to lie, cheat, steal and murder (providing it doesn't involve sex-- lying and murdering our US Military boys and girls, and innocent civilians, is okay, providing it's to enrich the Corporate Robber-barons , huh).
Those many thousands of Iraqis lucky enough to be sent to Allah by Bush, can be thankful that we dispatched them with the most modern WMDs known to mankind. Their families are ungrateful to Bush & Rumsfeld: after all, their lost loved ones are with Allah and "free" of the horrible Saddam. At least, Bush & co. protected the oil fields... who cares about the fact that the Iraqi people are living in miserable conditions: according to Bush: "they're free" and, according to Rumsfeld "stuff happens".
Meanwhile, the Bush/Cheney junta succeeded in diverting the public attention onto "Pre-emptive" Warfare, because otherwise they warn us: we'll be destroyed (never mind that we spend more annually than the next 15 richest nations combined on the military industrial complex)-- our annual budget was over 400 times that of Iraqs' (consider that expenditure in total over the last 12 years combined, since most of Iraqs military & weaponry was destroyed in Gulf War 1 & the early 1990s inspections: It was analogous to a 1960s-strong Mohammed Ali in the boxing ring with your 2-year old... It was no contest-- which is why Rumsfeld's "swollen chest" boasting after the fall of Baghdad was so laughable one had to cry!) -- and now Bush & the neo-cons are raising the military industrial complex annual expenditure from around $350 billion to $500-$800 billion to satiate their lust for [i]Pax Americana[/i].
While they have us "shocked and awed", they pull their "bait & switch" giving massive tax cuts to the 5%; increasing the National Debt and the budget deficit, that we and future generations will have to pay off. This is bankrupting the states who must incur increasing state and local taxes to make up the short fall, which hits poor, lower & middle-income people the hardest. But don't worry folks: YOU'RE STILL FREE! Oooooppppsss-- somebody better remind John Ashcroft who is so thrilled with his powers of Patriot Act I, that he now wants a second run at gaining ever-greater powers with Patriot Act II.
"We the People" are apparently more interested in Reality TV; Psyco-babble from blowhards like Dr Laura; and, Revisionist (Oooooppppsss- I meant [i]Revulsionist[/i]) history-for-dummies by neo-con "attack dogs" like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Michael Savage, who labels everyone who pursues public discourse, asking questions or disagreeing with their neo-fascist agenda as "Traitors".
Now, during this period of fund-raising, the Bush/Cheney junta are achieving their goal to raise a minimum of $200-$500 million in the run-up to the 2004 election, while the Democratic candidates combined couldn't possibly raise that much moola. Don't shed any tears for the Bush/Cheney contributors (the "tax cut for the rich" earned them all tens/hundreds of thousands/millions of dollars of additional income), and the $2000/plate hamburger-hot dog-nachos barbeques are a minor pittance to reward their Emperor & Liege for the tens/hundreds of thousands/millions of additional dollars they hoard, over and above their fat incomes, while working people scratch to make ends meet, watching helplessly while their expendable income shrinks.
Next Bush and Cheney might suggest that to vote will cost "We the People" $1000/ballot. After all, unless you're noble enough to earn massive amounts of big bucks, you must Un-American in this New World Order.
Hope you've got a lobbyist is in Washington DC -- otherwise, you're probably a "Traitor". Big Brother is watching "We the People".
